Second Chances
by turkeyplatter
Summary: The Author rewrote everyone's endings to erase fairytale characters from our world. Regina is sent back to stop this from happening, but no one knows where she'll come out in the timeline. S01-S03 Cannon with AU S04.
1. S04 Prolog

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Absolutely nothing. Don't sue me.**

**WARNING: This is AU. It is also a slow burn Outlaw Queen, but who knows how long that will take to happen. :)**

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**Storybrooke, at the end of Season Four…**

Regina sat at the end of Henry's bed, studying his face. She didn't want to forget this Henry and the hard won bond that they had. He must have sensed her though because he opened bleary eyes, only half awake.

"Mom?"

She smiled gently. "Everything's all right, Henry. I just wanted to say goodnight."

"Mom," he hesitated, "is Emma coming back?"

Regina's heart longed to comfort Henry with a lie, but it also leapt with unspoken glee that Henry no longer had a second mother in his life. At another time, she would have celebrated the late Savior's demise, but like it or not she was a large part of Henry's life, and Regina had ultimately changed in reaction to Emma's arrival in Storybrooke. As much as she hated Miss Swan, she had sacrificed herself for Henry, and that was a debt Regina only had one way to repay. "No, Henry," she told him honestly, "but don't worry. I have a plan. You'll see Emma again before you know it." She smiled and Henry relaxed, secure in the knowledge that Regina rarely failed when she set her mind and magic to a task. Leaning forward, she kissed him on the forehead and finished tucking him in. "Good night, Henry."

"Good night, mom. I love you."

"I love you too." Closing the door quietly, Regina allowed her smile to drop.

"He's asleep then?"

Regina glanced at the pirate. He looked like hell, which made sense considering. "We need to get started," she said, bypassing the question. If he was sober enough to notice, he didn't comment.

David and Snow were already waiting downstairs having acquired their portion of the ingredients. Mr. Gold was just hobbling in. If possible, he looked even more haggard than Hook. Clearly, he hadn't been sleeping. And Robin – Regina's heart still twanged at that recent scar – looked empty. His reaction unsettled her the most. That so easily could have been her if the time vortex had taken Henry.

By the realms they were a depressing lot. Yesterday's events had sucked the life out of all of them, even Regina. She had finally gotten her wish of getting rid of Marian, but any dark pleasure that might have accompanied that happenstance was smothered by the time vortex consuming better than half the town. Regina had never considered herself sentimental or attached to the people she had once cursed, but their absence had left a gaping hole of wrongness. Henry was still too naïve to grasp the terrible truth behind yesterday's events. The people sucked into the time vortex weren't lost or trapped in another realm. They were dead.

And the time vortex was growing. Rumple had been useless after Belle's death. It was Regina who had discovered the spell to send a person's mind back to their past body and Regina who had gathered what was left of the leaders of Storybrooke to try to fix this impossible problem.

Unfortunately, the spell she had found was unpredictable at best. One could aim to be sent back a day and end up having to relive the past ten years. Regina suppressed a shudder at the thought, because she would be the one who was sent back. She and Gold had been the only ones truly aware during the 28 years of the curse, and the last thing any of them needed was having their rescuer cursed immediately upon arrival. Regina had expected to have to fight Gold over which of them would be sent, but the Dark One was broken. He wasn't thinking clearly enough yet to challenge her assertion that she needed to be the one sent back. If this time frame continued to exist, he would likely try to curse her when awareness returned.

_He'll thank you later_, she thought, looking at the broken heroes. _They all will._ Squaring her shoulders, Regina strode into the center of the room, meeting each of their eyes in turn. "Let's save Storybrooke."


	2. S01 Waking Up

**Storybrooke, 1 year before the breaking of the Dark Curse…**

Regina opened her eyes. The world wouldn't focus at first, but she had expected some sort of side-effect. Slowly, details filtered into her brain. She was lying down. She was in her bedroom in Storybrooke.

A body shifted, accompanied by a soft grunt. _Graham._

Instantly awake, Regina startled up.

The sheriff glanced at her, devoid of anything but the most surface emotions. "Are you all right, Regina?"

Regina's mind threw up a mirror scenario of her startling awake with Robin on their first and only morning together. Robin hadn't needed to ask but had pulled her next to him, comforting just by the fact that he was solid and not demanding answers she wasn't prepared to give. Graham did not do these things. He merely asked the question that the curse forced from his lips, just like everyone else in this town. How had she ever fooled herself into believing this was real? "I'm fine," she answered tersely. He didn't react to her tone, eyes slightly dulled with the acceptance of a dog who is used to being kicked. "I'm sorry," she apologized more gently, "I just didn't expect…"

A flicker of suspicion at that. Regina had so rarely shown Graham or the Huntsman anything but demanding cruelty that even cursed he retained that innate mistrust of a kind word from her lips.

"Never mind," she stated more firmly.

Back on familiar territory, Graham set about picking up his clothes. It was broad daylight outside…which meant that he was here for an afternoon tryst while Henry was at school. Regina's mind worked to place this event in a time context. The afternoon routine had been established later in Henry's childhood, after Regina realized that he was never likely to embrace the concept of 'bedtime.' That could place today anywhere between eight years ago and the day Henry left Storybrooke.

"Graham, what's the exact date?"

Once again, Graham ignored the tone, searching his thoughts for the answer that she wanted. "August 23rd," he supplied.

Reaching out, she grabbed his arm to get his attention. "The year, Graham."

He flashed another confused look but answered, "2011."

The hair rose on Regina's arms. Barely two weeks before Henry left to find Emma. Well before any of the events they had traced to the creation of the time vortex. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Thank you."

Another guarded glance. "Should I come around at the usual time tonight?"

Regina paused in her planning, suddenly uneasy being half-naked in her bed. "I don't think that would be a good idea," she started. "Why don't you come by the office tomorrow? There's something I need to give you there."

He nodded placidly, clearly believing he already knew what she 'needed to give him.'

Regina suppressed a shudder of disgust with her past self. Everything would be different this time. This time, she would help break her own curse.

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Storybrooke Elementary was a small school by this realm's standards with a friendly and dedicated teaching staff. Naturally, however, Regina had cursed even the school board so that they would put her demands above anything as petty as school rules or professional boundaries'. It was almost sickening how everyone held the same half-vacant expression as Graham, as if the portions of their personalities that were capable of fighting her had been stripped away. Of course, they had, but seeing the effects of her curse with fresh memories of the near-future was alarming in contrast. "No wonder Henry knew something was wrong," she muttered.

Her son wasn't difficult to find on the playground, hunched over that cursed book of fairytales that Mary Margaret had given him. The book that had spelled all of their dooms when the writer had changed the endings. _Not this time_, she reminded herself to quell the aftereffects of a panic she would hopefully never have to face.

"Henry?" she said by way of announcing herself.

He immediately jumped, simultaneously smiling to distract her while maneuvering the book into his bag. "Mom, what are you doing here?" Regina tried to ignore how fake his question sounded. Before he had run away to find the Savior, she had assumed that he pushed her away because he was unhappy. Now, knowing that he knew who she used to be, the truth seemed obvious. Still, she gave him a genuine smile. Henry reacted to that too, as if he hadn't seen her smile in years. "Are you okay?"

Her heart swelled at the offering of concern in his voice. Even if he did know she was the Evil Queen, she was still his mother. Bolstered by that, Regina willed her eyes to remain dry. "No one in this town is okay, but I think you already know that."

Henry froze a fraction too long. "What are you talking about?"

Regina gave him a knowing look. Pulling the hastily covered book out of his bag, she placed it in front of them and tapped the cover. "About this."

Henry's face tried to blank, but Regina could see his mind racing, trying to find the scenario that would let him keep the book and fool the Evil Queen. Apparently decided on a tact, he responded a second later, "They're just stories." In those words was all of the adult disdain a ten year old could muster.

Regina smirked despite herself. She took a moment to flip through the pages, pausing on the ones about Snow and Robin. "Well, if they're just stories, then let me try one." She measured her words, making sure that Henry was listening instead of planning his next move. Closing the book, "Once upon a time, there was a queen who lived in a stone castle in an enchanted forest. The queen was very powerful in magic, but in pursuing her magic she forgot the most important lesson for life: that love isn't just about holding onto someone. Because of this, she grew confused and angry until, finally, she cast a curse, taking all of her enemies to a new land where they wouldn't remember she was the Evil Queen or evil at all."

She watched Henry's expression closely, trying to gauge his reaction. She had thought about how to tell him and believed that this would be the least damaging, but she may have miscalculated. "Why are you telling me this?" he asked carefully.

She smiled, also carefully. "Because I'm sorry I've been lying to you, Henry." He met her eyes then, and her heart twanged. She had forgotten how often she had dismissed his feelings in these years, assuming that he would eventually act like everyone else in this town. How blind she had been. "I'm sorry that you have family right here who don't know you because of what I did, but I can't break this curse on my own. I need your help."

Henry couldn't have looked more confused if he had been acting in a school play. "This is a test," he half-reasoned, half-accused, "from Mr. Hopper to see if I'm better yet."

"You are not sick," she said firmly, lowering herself till they were eye level. "In fact, I see no reason why you should continue to see Mr. Hopper."

"Wait—!"

She ached to hug him but settled for putting her hand over his, the closest to an affectionate gesture that he allowed at this time. "You are not crazy, Henry," she repeated fiercely. Seeing him flounder for a rebuttal, she continued, "and the Cricket won't remember who he is until the curse is broken anyway. None of them will."

A shred of hope bloomed on her son's face. He was choosing to put his trust in her again, a trust that she had lost at some point in the past that she didn't remember. "Assuming I believe you," he started guardedly, still not convinced that this wasn't an elaborate test to trap him, "how would we break an evil curse?"

Regina almost laughed at how obvious his interrogation was. He had certainly inherited Emma's lack of subtly. "First, we need to find your birth mother, the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White." His expression turned from suspicion to shock to disbelief that she was giving him a viable plan for breaking the dark curse. A plan that he had probably already started in his head by now if he was going to run away in two weeks. "To find her, we'll need the help of the one other person who remembers the particulars of the curse and its loopholes."

"Who's that?"

"Rumpelstiltskin."

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Regina explained when she was from as best she could during the short drive to Mr. Gold's shop. Henry took everything in with the raw belief that only a true believer could manage. He still put on an air of tentative disbelief, but his eyes were glowing with the possibilities of what she had told him. Bolstered by this small success, she marched toward Mr. Gold's pawn shop.

Per usual, Regina ignored the CLOSED sign on the pawn shop door. Despite the sign, the owner was at his front counter polishing a set of fine silver. He glanced up, annoyed but not surprised until his eyes slid over to Henry. "Madame Mayor, Henry," he greeted, making a show of wrapping the fork he was working on before continuing, "what can I do for both of you today?"

Regina resisted the urge to snark a reply. She and the Dark One had reached something of a truce in her timeline, but this Rumple still viewed her as an obstacle to his son. "Rumpelstiltskin," she started. Her old mentor did a masterful job of masking his expression.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "who?"

She smiled at that, amused by the joke only she truly understood. "You can drop the act, Rumple," she carried on. "I know you remember who you are, and frankly I'm impressed that you managed not to go crazy during the past 28 years." She paused, waiting to see if he would acknowledge any of it. "I need you to locate Emma so we can bring her to Storybrooke to break the curse."

Slowly, Mr. Gold's eyes shifted to Henry and back to her, coming to a conclusion of his own. "A curse, you say? Madame Mayor, I realize that things haven't always been the best between you and your son, but this is going a bit far, don't you think?"

"Wait, so you're really Rumpelstiltskin?" Henry enthused.

Gold frowned slightly, still looking at Regina. She didn't flinch under his scrutiny, determined that he would see whatever it was he was looking for and decide to help them. She could always do a parent search online, but that smacked too closely of the original events for her liking, and she needed Rumple on her side from the beginning to stop the future from happening. "Henry, there's a small brown box in the display case in the corner. Would you mind fetching it?" he avoided the question with one of his own.

Ever helpful, Henry glanced around, locating the case in a second. "Sure!" he called over his shoulder, already moving.

The boy distracted, Mr. Gold's hand darted out, grabbing Regina firmly around the wrist. Startled, she fought her initial instinct to pull away, reminding herself that she needed the Dark One's help. His voice dangerously lowered, he half threatened, "Who are you?"

Regina's eyes flashed annoyance. "You know who I am—"

"No," he interrupted, holding up a finger, "you're Regina, but you're not the Mayor. Who are you?" A mixture of annoyance and pride settled a satisfied smirk on Regina's lips. Heroes had a way of sugarcoating the true nature of something until it was obscured beyond all recognition, but if the Dark One believed that she was different, then she really had succeeded in changing.

Henry was returning and Mr. Gold dropped her wrist, shifting his hands as if to continue polishing his silver. As much as it irked her, she had to admit that the transition was seamless.

"Here," Henry said, holding the obscure box as if it might be the key to everyone's happy endings.

Mr. Gold spared a small smile for her son. "Thank you," accepting the box. He stared at the pine lid for a moment before whisking it away to a shelf under the counter.

Henry looked from Mr. Gold to his mother, finally catching on to the charged atmosphere between the adults. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing important," she answered blithely, "just old trust issues between Rumple and me."

Coming to the wrong conclusion, Henry turned his most truthful gaze on Mr. Gold. "She really does want to break the curse," he assured him with the absolute faith of a child.

Rumple gave a tight smile, darkly amused by the situation. Regina had to admit that the ire was almost too much, the two who had conspired to cast the curse now coming together to try to break it. Something of her thoughts must have shown on her face because his expression shifted to guarded acceptance. "All right, I'll play along."

Regina took a breath, the first battle won but the war yet to come. Deciding that honesty would be the best if most fantastical policy, she started blandly, "I'm from the future. Four years from now, Emma makes a mistake and saves the wrong person from the past. My past. The price of that act is the destruction of the town and the people in it. I'm here to stop that from happening."

"Time travel?" the nasty tone back in full force.

"I know it hasn't been done yet, and hopefully it won't happen again," she clarified.

"In four years."

"That's right."

"Ah."

Regina hated that word. It was the one he always used when condescending someone to their lowest form. "Gold—"

"You know, Regina, this is sad," he said, indicating her and Henry. "Even I never thought you would invent such a fantastical story to get back into his good graces."

Her jaw hardened. "Fine," she said, settling into more familiar territory, "since I clearly can't appeal to the goodness of your nature, how about a deal?"

He chuckling mirthlessly. "You have nothing I want, dearie."

"Actually, I do. I know how to find Baelfire," she said without preamble. He sucked in a breath at that, a bit of his Storybrooke mask falling away. "His name is Neal in this realm. Neal Cassidy."

Slowly, "Where is he?"

Regina didn't show it but she was relieved. It was tiring speaking plainly while Rumple continued with his charade. "I don't have an address," she answered truthfully, "but the first time the curse was broken, he'd been living in Boston for a while. It's safe to guess that he'll be there in this timeline as well." She paused, letting him process this information and form some sort of acceptance of her story.

"The first time," he echoed, measuring her words against whatever it was he saw when he looked at her now. Regina waited for that subtle crease of his eyelids, a tell that he didn't entirely believe what he was being told but was willing to go along with it. "All right, Madame Mayor. Assuming that I believe you, why do it? If you really have the precognitive prowess that you claim, why not stop the curse from being broken at all? Because if we succeed there's a line of people who will be calling for your head."

"They can take a number," she dismissed.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Regina paused, searching for the answer that would satisfy her former mentor. He had always been a stickler for knowing the motivation behind people's actions. She should have seen this question coming, and she was frustrated with herself for not preparing an answer. Just then, Henry shifted his weight, recalling her attention to him. He looked at her with fragile hope. He wanted to believe that she had changed and was no longer the Evil Queen, even if the only actions he had to back up that hope were the ones she had taken in the past two hours. That was the kind of faith she had repeatedly trampled on in those first years after Miss Swan came to Storybrooke. _Not this time._ Straightening, she met Gold's gaze squarely. He hadn't missed the silent exchange between mother and son and seemed to be reevaluating his assessment of her even before she spoke. "I'm not a villain anymore," she said evenly, then with a tainted smile, "or I won't be."


	3. S01 Not This Time

An hour later, she and Henry left the pawn shop. Mr. Gold had mysteriously produced Miss Swan's exact address from his back room, confirming what Regina had always suspected about Henry's chance adoption. Fate usually had very little to do once Rumple set his mind to pulling the strings.

Once in the car, Regina allowed herself to relax for a moment. There was still a long list of things to do before the Savior arrived, but getting Gold on her side was a start.

"Are you really from the future?"

Regina smiled, leaning back in her seat. "Yes."

"'Cause you don't look any different."

"My mind is from the future," she clarified, "Or maybe it's not and I just have all of the future memories. The specifics of the spell were unclear on that detail."

Henry absorbed this as only he could, weaving it into the mythos that he had created about magic. "So, not all magic is evil."

She smiled at the almost-question, her mind flitting to how the next few years may be different now that she was different. "No, it's not. Miss Swan and I both have light magic or will if magic is returned in this timeline."

Beside her, Henry shuddered. "I don't think magic is such a good idea. Whenever it's used in the book, people get hurt."

Regina considered her son and the future events, tracing the logic back. "You may be right, Henry."

"So," sitting up straighter now, "What's next? Do we drive to Boston tonight?"

"Not tonight. Thirteen days from now."

His brow scrunched together. "What happens in thirteen days?"

Regina started the car, checking her side mirror before pulling out. "Miss Swan turns 28. Snow once told me that Emma said you showed up on her birthday, and that's one of the main reasons she went with you in the first place." Henry looked down, a tell that he was feeling guilty about something. Guessing what it was, she continued softly, "It's okay, Henry. I don't blame you for wanting to run away. I wasn't exactly—good at loving anyone at this point in time."

The silence stretched on, but it wasn't the estranged silence that had characterized her interactions with Henry before. "You really are different." The statement held a finality to it, as if she could never again become what she had been the past few years of his life. The declaration filled her with unexpected warmth.

"Yes, well, the real feat will be convincing everyone else of that."

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Henry argued to stay home from school, but he had already missed half a day. What won the argument though was the need to keep an eye on his grandmother. "Snow doesn't know it yet, but her Prince Charming is in a coma in the hospital."

"He's in a coma?" Henry gave her an incredulous look.

She nodded, pouring him a glass of orange juice. "It seemed the best way to keep them apart at the time," a bit of the old dark humor crept into her voice, "but now that we're breaking the curse, it might be better that Mary Margaret start visiting him. This is your mission for the day."

"Operation Cobra underway."

Regina looked up, startled by his use of his and Emma's secret code name for breaking the curse. A broad grin spread across her face. Flipping a pancake onto a plate, she slid it in front of Henry. "Operation Cobra," she mused, "sounds like a plan. Now, eat up. You have ten minutes before the bus gets here."

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The last of the paperwork had just been signed when a knock came at the office door. "Come in," she called, straightening the forms on her desk. Graham walked in, locking the door behind him. Regina chose to ignore that, trying not to remember how often she had called Graham here for sex, just as she had been called by King Leopold. She was recalled to the present by Graham removing his jacket. "Keep your clothes on, please."

He paused, mid-shucking of his shirt, clearly confused.

She looked down to hide the shame creeping up her face. Drawing the latched wooden box to her, Regina forced herself to speak, "Come here, Graham." Compelled by the curse, he moved forward. Carefully, she held it out to him.

"What is this?"

"Something taken that needs to be returned," she supplied.

His brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't understand."

"I know," she said gently. The emotion surprised him, eliciting another flicker of shame. "I need you to keep this safe, and don't open it until you know what's inside."

Graham looked at her strangely but accepted the box, unaware of the power she had just passed back to him. "I'll keep it safe," he assured her.

"Thank you." She cleared her throat. "There's another matter we need to discuss. Us."

Confusion again. "Us?"

Regina looked at him, trying to be as genuine as possible. "Why are you with me, Graham?"

He stiffened a bit. "Excuse me?"

"Do you feel anything with me or is this just the pattern?" she persisted. She already knew the answer, could see him struggling with possibly the first new thought that had entered his head in 28 years and the curse pushing him to produce an answer she wanted to hear.

"Regina, I…" he trailed off, trying and failing to resolve the conflict in his head.

She offered a sad smile. "You're a good man, Graham, and it's been wrong of me to use you like I have. I'm sorry for that." She paused, straightening a bit. "From now on, I think its best that we only interact as mayor and sheriff." The statement was left open-ended, not requiring obedience by the curse.

Still coming to terms with the turn of events, Graham accepted the dismissal. "Madame Mayor."

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Belle proved the easiest of her visits. It was a simple matter of signing her out of the mental ward and driving her to Gold's shop. It helped that the woman had no idea who Regina was and was naturally inclined to like anyone who had gotten her out of her padded cell. The difficult part was yet to come.

"Belle, there's a man in there named Mr. Gold. He knows you from…before." Regina paused, gauging the other woman's reaction. When nothing but mild confusion registered, Regina sighed.

"From before?"

Regina mentally smacked herself for not remembering that Belle had only been freed for half an hour after being locked in isolation for the past 28 years. The sound of her own voice probably still startled her, let alone those of other people. This in mind, Regina kept her answer to a monosyllable. "Yes."

Belle's gaze shifted in and out of focus, brow slightly furrowed as she did when trying to solve a problem she didn't have all the information for. "How long was I there?"

She considered the truth but decided against it. "A long time."

"Why—? Who put me in there?"

Regina forced a calm she did not feel. What she felt was tired. This was the third 'liberation' she'd done today, and it drained her. "I did."

Belle recoiled almost immediately, her expression transforming from tentative trust to horror in an instant. "Why would you do that?" She flinched from the volume of her voice inside the small car. Surprisingly, though, she didn't attempt to get out. Apparently her anger was greater than any need to run for the moment.

"Because I was hurting, and so I hurt people." Belle sat there, mouth gaping open and closed, too unfamiliar with speech to properly express her outrage. Indicating the pawn shop with a nod, Regina pressed on, "Go. Mr. Gold will protect you from me or anyone else."

She hesitated, torn between the need to speak her mind and the promise of safety not twenty feet away. Finally, in a calmer tone, "Why are you helping me?"

Regina almost smirked at the irony. "Because I'm bringing back the happy endings."

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She wasn't surprised when Rumple showed up at her office. If magic was back, she knew he would be bringing that cursed pendant to mark her. The cold murder was plain enough in his eyes. "Regina," he half-snarled.

"Mr. Gold." Regina set aside the town's speed limit proposal, waiting to see if the Dark One would continue. "Well, since you're apparently just going to stand there and glare at me, I'll start. Nothing excuses what I did to her." She waited to see the familiar hate flair at her matter of fact apology. "Before trying to kill me again though, ask yourself why I released her at all."

Schemes were something the Dark One understood; manipulation and underhanded dealings. All his usual mental ilk however was swept aside in the face of his wrath. "Why?" he spat the word back at her. "It doesn't matter why you let her out, because I can assure you that whatever you hoped to gain by returning her to me, you will not have it. I will kill you for this, Your Majesty."

Regina's expression shifted into The Queen. "No, you won't, because _when_ the curse is broken, Belle will never forgive you. Besides," she added, features settling into a grimace, "we're family."

Rumple's face contorted. "What?"

"Henry is your grandson." She waited for the logic behind that statement to sink in. "So, in light of our very skewed family ties, it seemed the right thing to do to reunite my son's future step-grandmother with his grandfather."

His expression shifted, loathing mixed with dangerous hope at the future she had painted. "If you're lying, dearie—"

Regina interrupted him with a mirthless laugh. "Do you honestly think I would choose you as my family after everything we've done to destroy each other? If I was trying to trick you, Rumple, I'd pick a better story than this one."

The air grew tense between them, mentor and mentee trying to decipher the other to gain advantage. Barely hiding bared teeth, he settled both his palms over the hilt of his cane. "Why are you really here?"

"I told you, Storybrooke will be sucked into a time vortex."

"No," he advanced, somehow more menacing for the limp, "you and I, we understand each other, and I cannot accept that you have changed so much as to do all this out of the goodness of your heart."

Regina arched her eyebrows at that. "Truly, Rumple? For someone so convinced of my dark heart, you went to an awful lot of trouble to make sure it stayed that way." A flicker of guilt at that. Another person would have missed it, but she had known the Dark One too long. Rumple had never shared the lengths to which he had gone to ensure that she became the Evil Queen, but she suspected. Part of her still wanted to know the full truth of that tale, but her better part reminded that such knowledge could only act as yet another barrier between her and her ever elusive light heart.

Much to her ire, her heart had hardly lightened at all during the last year. Her light magic had grown, a gain she suspected would have evaporated by the time magic was returned to this Storybrooke, but even her love for Henry had only helped to keep the darkness at bay. In truth, her volunteering for this little tryst back through time was a form of redemption. She had given up her son and the hard won trust she shared with the inhabitants of Storybrooke, all for a chance to save them and earn back her heart.

"Now, if you're done thinking of ways to kill me, then let me offer you a piece of advice: give everyone an extension on their rent." His eyebrows shot up at that. "Or, better yet, lower it."

"And why, pray tell, would I do that?"

Regina leaned back in her chair, purposefully relaxing. "Practice. Belle won't want to marry the Dark One any more than Neal will want him as a father. You should start practicing being a man now, Mr. Gold. It will save you a lot of time and frustration later."

He seemed to consider her comment, but not in the way she had hoped. "And that's what you're doing," he half-stated, half-scoffed, "going around town, reuniting people, spreading goodwill and warm feelings for the mayor. It won't mean anything when the curse is broken. All they'll see is the Evil Queen."

Regina sobered. "I know."

"Then what's the point?"

Her jaw twitched at the taunt. It was the same question she had asked herself every day since the breaking of her dark curse. Although the meaning of the question changed, the answer had always remained the same. "My son."

Rumple's expression froze, then morphed into a smirk that might have been a smile. "You know, dearie, if I had thought you capable of it, I would have written you in as the Savior of the curse."

Regina accepted the double-edged compliment. "But you didn't."

"No," he stated, unapologetic, "I didn't. Speaking of which, how do you plan to lure Miss Swan here?"

An unpleasant feeling twisted in her gut. She had been over and over different scenarios, trying to find an alternative to the one way that she knew would work, but it was imperative that the curse be broken, and given how long it took Emma to start believing last time, that meant getting her to Storybrooke as soon as possible. "The same way as the first time," she said, trying to hide the trepidation she felt, "Henry."

"Her son," he smiled, "of course."

He had meant it to sting, and it did. Regina didn't want to share that role with Emma or anyone else. _She_ was Henry's mother in every way that mattered, even if he did like cinnamon on his cocoa. Controlling that initial surge of emotion, she replied evenly, "Our son, yes."

Mr. Gold snorted in mock laughter. "Saying that cost you, dearie." A nasty gleam lingered in his eyes, undoubtedly imagining all of the horrible things he was going to try to trick her into doing in the name of her happy ending.

"Was there something else you wanted?" The question was flat, a clear invitation to leave and let her get back to work.

The Dark One gave a tight smile. "Not today."

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.

The drive to Boston had been awkward. Henry was practically bursting with excitement to meet his birth mother. Regina was tense. On the one hand, she and Henry were talking as they hadn't until the last few months for her and several years ago for him. Apparently her show of goodwill around town had convinced her son enough of her intentions to believe that the Evil Queen had turned over a new leaf. Despite this, she was not looking forward to Operation Cobra.

"Now, Henry, remember, when she opens the door, let me do the talking."

All smiles, he immediately agreed with an "Okay," that meant he would remember only until the door opened.

Sighing internally, Regina knocked lightly on the door. Part of her hoped that Gold had sent them to the wrong apartment, that the curse would never be broken and she and Henry could go back without a Savior in tow. But the door opened and there she was: the thorn in her side. "Miss Swan?" she asked, forcing tentative friendliness.

The blonde's eyebrows furrowed together in caution. "Yes?"

"My name's Henry. I'm your son."

Regina grew cold at the statement, a familiar knife twisting in her heart.

"Excuse me?"

Resisting the urge to pull her son away, Regina tried for an even if somewhat strained tone, "Miss Swan, I realize that this is all a bit sudden, but if I could have just a minute of your time…"

Emma cast Regina and Henry a long, measuring look. Finally, she lowered her arm that had been barring them entrance. "One minute. Come on in."

Regina gave her a small smile. "Thank you." Henry was already inside, all set to explore the kitchen while the grown-ups talked.

"That's your son?"

Regina recognized Emma's usual tactic of asking questions while she floundered with coming to grips with reality. "Yes," she acknowledged, her tone warming instantly. Then, answering the question that hadn't been asked, "I adopted him when he was a baby."

A long moment later, Emma drew her gaze away from Henry, undoubtedly seeing traces of herself and Neal there. "I don't understand. It was a closed adoption. Why are you here?"

Regina shifted, casting a glance at Henry. "Henry is going through a rough patch. Has been going through a rough patch for a few years now." She took a breath, fully donning the face of a deeply concerned parent. "Henry believes that everyone in our town is a cursed fairytale character and that you are the Savior who can break the curse."

Emma's eyebrows shot up. "Fairytale characters?"

Her mouth quirked into something that might have resembled amusement several years ago. "The short of it is that I'd like to hire you, Miss Swan. Henry is so convinced of this "fantasy that he doesn't interact with reality. Central to this world he's created is you. His birth mother." She let just a touch of worry laced with resentment slip into her tone. A glance at Miss Swan confirmed that the ploy had worked. "I apologize, you didn't deserve that."

She nodded, her gaze also drawn back to Henry. "No offense taken." She crossed her arms, feet settling into what Regina had come to associate with her I'm-about-to-do-something-Savior-like stance. "What is it you think I can do?"

"Come back to Storybrooke with us."

"Storybrooke? Really?"

Regina offered a wan smile, sharing in the moment of ire. "He's convinced that if you're there then you can break the curse cast by the Evil Queen."

"And who would that be?"

"Me."

A meaningful look passed between them before both returned their gazes to Henry. He smiled and waved, munching on a cookie he must have hidden in his jacket pocket. Regina frowned slightly at that. She didn't like him having sweets after six o'clock. "And if I go back with you and nothing happens, then he'll come to reality on his own." Emma paused a moment, weighing the time commitment against the family entanglement.

Correctly assuming that she would need a nudge, Regina spoke, "I realize that you probably have other obligations here, but I can pay double your usual rate as a bails bondsman."

Emma's head snapped back at that. "How do you know what my job is?"

Regina mentally smacked herself for that one. "When my son started talking about his birth mother being the Savior, I did my homework, Miss Swan," she recovered tersely. Glancing down to supposedly give herself a moment to regain control, she continued, "Please. I just want my son to be okay."

"Is there a reason why you showed up the middle of the night?"

"He was going to run away here," she answered truthfully. "He does think I'm the Evil Queen."

Henry smiled warmly at them across the gap. Emma's eyebrows furrowed at the dichotomy. "He doesn't seem to think you're evil."

"Reforming," she clarified. "He's been more open to talking since I started playing along. Dr. Hopper confirms that it's helping but…"

Emma nodded, clearly concerned despite not knowing Henry from Adam. Realms, the Savior complex was annoying. "I'll do it," she announced, "but I can't just drop my life here."

Regina knew better. Miss Swan had no one and nothing to tie her anywhere, but she recognized a bargaining line when she heard one. "Of course. Room and board will be provided as well as compensation for any contracts dropped." Money wasn't exactly the Savior's language, but it was a dialect.

"No offense, but single mothers aren't exactly rolling in it—" she broke off, shifting her weight to signal a possible retreat. "—I'm assuming that you're a single mom."

"I am," Regina smiled, "and I'm the mayor of Storybrooke. It's one of the reasons why I could adopt Henry in the first place."

Emma's expression cleared. "The mayor?" She glanced back at Henry, a smidge of tension relaxing from her shoulders. Regina could almost hear the thought _He has his best chance._ Regina had heard Snow repeat the phrase often enough during the missing year and had even taken up the mantra herself on the darkest of her days when she wanted to rip her heart out just to help ease the heartache of an absent son. "Hey, kid!"

Henry perked up. He had done well so far, but Regina knew he must have a million questions and stories he wanted to share with his…mother.

"Looks like I'm coming home with you."

.

.

The drive home was a lonely one. Henry had opted to drive back with Miss Swan, "To start Operation Cobra," he had whispered. Regina gripped the steering wheel a bit tighter, glancing nervously at the yellow bug in the rearview mirror. No matter that this was all part of hers and Henry's plan, future past memories were gnawing away at her. The fear that she would lose her son again, that he would choose Miss Swan as a mother over her.

The old knife twisted anew. _Not this time, not this time._


	4. S01 Unforseen Consequences

The next morning, Henry came bounding down the stairs two at a time practically bursting with the excitement of having Emma back in his life. Regina smiled despite the ache in her heart. She was happy for the future she was forging, but it was still unnatural that a child should be this excited about a stranger he hadn't known the name of two weeks prior.

"You're in a good mood today," she observed, coring another apple.

"The best!" he grinned while pouring himself a bowl of coco puffs. "Emma is going to be a tough nut to crack. I showed her the book, but she didn't believe me."

A wry smile tugged at her lips. "Miss Swan is one of the most stubborn people I've met. She doesn't want to believe, even after she does." The apple cored, she moved on to dicing the slices.

"Isn't it a little late for apple tarts?" Henry asked, picking out the steps to one of her many apple recipes. He glanced at the clock, gauging the time left until the bus arrived against how long he knew her tarts took to bake.

Regina gave him an arch look. "Not everything I bake is for you, young man," she chided. "In fact, these tarts will be done right on time. Miss Swan and I are having a meeting in an hour to discuss her new role in our lives."

Alarm flashed across his face, eyes darting quickly between her and the apples. Regina could read him as clearly as if he had spoken the words. _The Evil Queen tricked me. She lured the Savior here and is going to poison her on the first day while I'm at school!_

Again, Regina buried the pain that caused her. "Henry, I'm not going to poison Emma," she said seriously. She did not add that that was exactly what she had tried to do the first time around. When he didn't move, she looked down at the mess she'd made on the cutting board. So much for their new trust if baking was all it took to convince Henry she was plotting something. In truth, she was plotting but Henry knew what it was this time.

Mentally, she berated herself. She'd never made the connection before between Henry's discovery that she was the Evil Queen and his sudden distaste for apples. Now that she had made the connection, it seemed glaringly obvious. This Henry knew so little about magic. He probably thought that the apples growing in the front yard were inherently magical. She'd been foolish to think he would truly trust her again so quickly. The first time, it had taken using light magic to convince him that she wasn't going to go on a rampage and start killing people when a situation turned sour. And sharing the role of mother was a bitter bite to swallow.

_You dug this hole. It's going to take time to dig back out of it._

This in mind, Regina moved decisively across the kitchen and deposited the entirety of her morning's work in the trash. Settling across from him at the kitchen table, she registered his surprise. "All right, no more baking for other people until the curse is broken," she stated.

He studied her for a while, mental gears searching for the loophole. Finally, "No magic." The statement was almost a plea. "Promise me you won't use magic."

"Before this is over, I may have to use magic to convince Emma that all of this is real, so I can't promise that, Henry," she explained gently. "But I can promise that I will only use magic to help break the curse."

He didn't trust the promise. At least, not entirely. Still, he held her gaze and said, "Okay." She thought all conversation was dead when Henry suddenly announced, "I think we should bring Mary Margaret into it."

Regina raised her eyebrows but didn't object. "Oh?"

"Yeah," he affirmed, waving his fork vaguely, "I think it will help if Emma spends more time with her mom." He shoveled another egg into his mouth, watching for her response.

Regina purposefully nodded, letting Henry see that she was considering his ideas. "That makes sense," she agreed after swallowing her own mouthful. "The first time around, Mary Margaret and Emma ended up being roommates."

Henry perked up at that. "Do you think that could happen again?"

She hoped not. The circumstances behind that arrangement had been very special, and she wasn't sure she wanted this timeline to be so similar to that one. "I don't know, but bringing her into the plan is a good idea. She cares for you, and it will give them an excuse to get to know each other."

"Excellent," he grinned, returning his attention to his breakfast.

.

.

Granny's was comfortably familiar. It hadn't been so very long since Regina had been welcome at the diner in her Storybrooke, and then the guarded looks of suspicion or outright pity had been enough to taint the experience. In contrast, the neutral trepidation of the current Storybrooke was almost a welcome alternative.

The Savior was hard to miss. Wearing a blue leather jacket with buckles hanging everywhere, she looked more like she was ready to tackle someone than discuss a business arrangement. _Oh, the irony._ "Miss Swan," Regina greeted, sliding into the opposite booth.

The blond looked up, all business. "Miss Mills."

"Please, Regina," she waved off, "I've never been comfortable with that title."

Emma paused. Finally, "Yeah, me neither. Emma's fine."

Regina inclined her head as if this were new information to her. Just then, Ruby slinked over with all the grace of a pouting child. Regina stifled a flash of annoyance. This was one of the features of cursed Storybrooke that she'd never missed. "Refill?" she directed at Emma.

"No thanks."

Ruby turned expectantly to Regina. "Coffee." The cursed Red scribbled the order on her pad and turned to fulfill the order. Granny was not too subtly watching from behind her bookwork.

"Henry said no one ever came here," Emma said, frowning slightly at the unabashedly curious clientele. "I'm starting to believe him."

Regina smiled at that. "We're a small town."

"Not that small. Well," snapping her head back towards Regina, "it is, but I can guess how that must seem to a kid."

They settled into an uneasy silence, Emma undoubtedly wondering just what she'd gotten herself into and Regina wondering how to negate all those cut-and-run instincts Miss Swan had acquired while living in this world. Thankfully, Regina didn't have to wonder long. Experience had taught her that the Savior-complex asserted itself in the face of perceived conflict, so she would give Emma exactly that. "Emma," Regina began, using her first name purposefully to throw her off-balance, "thank you for agreeing to come here for however long it ends up being."

"Now wait," she interrupted, flight instincts kicking in, "I said I'd help, but I can't stay indefinitely. You're his mother, and I'm certainly not here to replace you."

"Of course. I wasn't implying—" Regina stopped herself. Emma had a gift for telling when people were lying. Choosing her words more carefully, she started again, "I'm glad that you feel that way, Miss Swan, but I'm not blind to what is likely to come of this. Even if Henry does wake up from his dream world, it's not as if he's magically going to forget you." She didn't have to fake the resigned bitterness that crept into her tone.

Emma was quiet for a long time.

Ruby returned and deposited the coffee, lingering a few beats, undoubtedly to try to decipher the charged atmosphere between the two women. As both of them were avoiding speaking though, she lost interest and wandered back towards the counter.

Finally, "You must really love him." Her eyes were evaluating, seeking confirmation more than a verbal answer.

Regina's jaw relaxed a tad. "Yes, I do."

Apparently satisfied, Emma nodded slightly. "All right, so when did all this start for Henry?"

.

.

Emma evaluated her new employer, who was also the mayor of this town and mother to her long-lost son. Regina, as she insisted on being called, had showed up with Henry at her apartment a week ago with a story too strange to not be real. That wasn't why Emma had gotten in her car and driven to Storybrooke in the dead of night though. She'd done it because she could see that Henry was her kid and because Regina was lying. Not about everything, but about enough to set off warning bells. She told herself she wouldn't be here long, just long enough to make sure the kid was okay, but the mayor made her uneasy. She didn't hold herself like a mother who was dealing with the fresh threat of a birth parent. She was too calm, despite the front of nervousness. It was a lie. And that's what worried Emma.

Now at the end of her first week in Storybrooke, Emma wasn't any more convinced of Regina's honesty. Most of her story about Henry seemed plausible, but silent alarms kept going off at odd moments.

Dr. Hopper had been relatively open about his sessions with Henry once Regina gave parental consent for Emma to access his files, but he'd been oddly elusive about his opinions on Regina as a mother. In fact, everyone in town had a hard time articulately anything about the mayor. All agreed that she would do anything within her power to help her son, but these statements were all tainted by a nebulous shadow of dread, as if they were shying away from a proverbial rod that might materialize to strike them if they said anything against their mayor. It was as if the town existed to revolve around Regina and her son. And somehow, Emma had been pulled into the mess.

She didn't know what it was yet, but there was something wrong with this town. People weren't normally afraid of publically elected officials, which meant that whatever front Regina put up was strictly for hers and Henry's benefit. Yet Regina didn't lie when she said she loved Henry.

Frustrated, Emma closed her eyes. The kid was adorable. Nuts, but adorable. With the feeling she was getting from this town, though, was it any wonder that he'd come up with the fantasy of his mother being the Evil Queen who'd cursed everyone? In a strange, childhood logic sort-of-way, it explained how this town worked. No, she was definitely going to be here longer than a couple weeks.

Sighing, she set her alarm before turning off the light.

.

.

(Four months later...)

By the time David woke up, Emma was primed to believe, yet she didn't want to. Regina recognized the stubbornness. The single-minded refusal to accept the only logical explanation because it would shatter her beliefs up to this point. Regina was so frustrated that her fingers practically itched for a fireball.

"We need magic, dearie."

She shot a sidelong look at the Dark One. Now that she knew who to look for, Regina had spotted the Snow Queen in town, and Pan's ever vigilant boys would be ready to storm the borders as soon as the curse was broken. "I know," she answered grimly.

Both kept their outward attention on the skeptical Savior who was witnessing the reunion of her parents.

"You've done a masterful job of undoing your work," he complimented. "Too bad it isn't enough."

Regina knew what he was driving at. The only item that could supposedly break the curse was also the only thing that could return magic to Storybrooke: bottled True Love. Unfortunately, they needed that potion to restore magic, which meant that Emma had to break the curse on her own. "I wonder what she'd do if I just tossed her to Maleficent with Charming's sword."

Barely a flicker of surprise touched his expression at her knowledge that he had David's sword. Sometime in the last few months he had made the cross from skepticism to belief that she did in fact have knowledge of an alternate future. Regina knew that this gave her bargaining power as he didn't know which secrets she already knew, and Regina wasn't in any hurry to tell him. "She'd die," he stated blandly. "If she doesn't believe that she's the Savior who will save everyone, then she won't. Belief is the key ingredient, dearie, and, unfortunately, Miss Swan has it in exceedingly short supply."

She frowned, still considering it. The first time this had happen, Regina had been so wrapped up with making life miserable for everyone else that she'd missed the looming deadline. Emma would only be 28 for another eight months, and she was no closer to breaking the curse than the day she'd arrived. Still, this event had come faster than last time.

Her concentration was broken by Henry turning to Emma in excitement, "Mom, this is great! Don't you see? The curse is breaking! You're bringing back the happy endings!" Hugging his birth mother, Henry looked directly at Regina and gave a thumbs up, mouthing a silent, 'Operation Cobra.'

Regina automatically slipped on the appropriate smiling mask. Unfortunately, Rumple was there to see.

.

.

She was still rattled from Henry's remark yesterday when a knock came at her office door. It shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did. She'd known that it would happen. That Henry would eventually share the mantle of motherhood between her and Miss Swan. What she hadn't expected was how much it would hurt all over again. "Come in," she called, trying to set her worry aside. Unfortunately, it returned full force when Graham entered her office.

Immediately, she was out of her chair and circling around the desk. "Graham, you look awful." She was so focused on his obvious fever and dark circles under his eyes that she missed the small box in his hand until he thrust it out between them. She immediately stopped, suddenly feeling very exposed alone in with the Huntsman and without her magic.

"I can see from your reaction that you know what's in here," he said, dangerously quiet. Her eyes flicked to his in confirmation. Taking a step forward, "Is it mine?" Regina took a step back. Approaching more rapidly now, "Is it mine, Regina. Is this my heart?"

She ran out of room, legs bumping against her desk.

"I went to see Henry today at school. He told me that there's a curse and that the Evil Queen ripped out my heart to control me, and then I remembered this box and what you told me when you gave it to me." He paused in his rant, shaking slightly as his body and mind struggled to break free of her curse. "Is it mine?"

Forcing a calm she did not feel, she answered simply, "Yes."

He stepped forward suddenly and Regina automatically tensed, instincts she'd thought long dead kicking in, but the strike didn't come. Instead, he just loomed over her, a mixture of plea and menace. "Put it back in."

"I can't."

"Put it back in," he repeated.

"I can't," she rejoined more forcefully, a bit of The Queen slipping into her tone. Graham immediately backed up a step. The curse still held him if only tentatively, but Regina suspected he would have responded to the tone anyway out of habit. Allowing some of her general frustration to seep into her voice, "At least, I can't yet."

"Yet?" he prompted, his knuckles white on the box.

Taking advantage of Graham's lapse, Regina used the pause to circle back behind her desk. Settled into her mayor's chair, she was in control again. "I can't put your heart back until my curse is broken. This land has certain…limitations." Let him think she still had use to some form of magic. It would keep him from attacking her.

He hesitated, his feverish mind struggling with the concept. "Then, it's true," he finally articulated. "You really are the Evil Queen from Henry's book?"

"Yes." One word answers seemed to be all Graham could handle right now.

His eyes unfocused, finger pointing as another revelation bloomed in his mind. "And during all this time you've been using this," he gestured carefully with the box, "to make me sleep with you?" His face contorted at the last, the horror of the lack of choice dawning. Disgust and confusion pulled his features. "Why give me my heart?"

Regina's jaw set into a hard line. "Because I shouldn't have taken it in the first place."

He didn't seem to have expected that answer. Still, his features steadied as he came to some kind of conclusion in his mind. "That's doesn't really matter now." The calm was back, Graham apparently winning over the Huntsman in his head. "Regina Mills, you're under arrest."


	5. S01 All Over Again

**Note to the Readers: Thank you for the reviews! I needed a bit longer to work on this segment as my editor noticed a rather glaring hole in my plotline (face palm). Thus, the delay, but here is the new and improved version of the end of Season 1. Enjoy!**

.

.

"This isn't exactly what I meant when I said things needed to move more quickly."

She gazed out from behind the bars of the prison cell that her magic had conjured along with the reinforced steel lock and everything else in this cursed town. Why had it never occurred to her that this might happen whe:;''ppln she gave Graham his heart? The answer was simple enough: she'd been thinking as if Storybrooke already had magic. The decision to return Graham's heart had been made within 24 hours of her arrival. She hadn't properly thought through everything and, in light of trying to break her own curse, had overlooked the possibility of something as mundane as an attempted murder charge.

The front door opened, Emma entering with her jacket pulled back. Regina's eyes flashed to the badge on her belt. Misinterpreting her expression, Emma explained, "Graham stepped down as sheriff."

Regina nodded once. "It makes sense. You've had experience in this field before." Regina found she was talking just to have something to say. It was awkward to be locked up for a murder she hadn't committed in this timeline.

"And as my first act as sheriff, I'm letting you go." That took her by surprise, but Emma didn't seem to notice as she fiddled with the lock. "Graham's claiming the heart is his and that you gave it to him. He also said something about you hiring him to kill Mary Margaret," she frowned. "Something's wrong with him, but a missing heart isn't it. I just have a few follow-up questions and then you can go." The cell door swung open.

Recovering quickly, she answered, "Of course, whatever you need."

"Right," taking a bracing breath, "this way then."

Storybrooke's interrogation room was just as she remembered it. Small, drab, unimaginative. The Dark One's cell had held more fiber for the creative mind than this room. All business, Emma set the tape-recorder on the table and looked at Regina to make sure she was ready before pressing "record."

"Please state your name for the record."

"Regina Mills. I'm the mayor of Storybrooke."

"Thank you, Miss Mills," Emma rattled off as if reading from a script. "Now, the former sheriff stated that he received a box from you with a heart inside. This box." She produced said container from beneath the table. "Have you ever seen it before?"

She gave the box a cursory glance before resuming eye contact. "Yes."

"Did you give it to Graham?"

"Yes, I did. The box originally belonged to my mother. It was a gift about three months ago, two weeks before you came to Storybrooke."

Emma's eyebrows shot up at that, an uncomfortable reminder that she was talking to her current love interest's ex, but she carried on, "Inside appears to be a beating heart that's glowing. Probably mechanical," she stated for the benefit of the tape. "Miss Mills, was this heart in the box when you gave it to Graham?"

Regina paused. Somehow, this didn't strike her as the moment to explain about dark magic and enchanted hearts. _Then again_, _maybe this is exactly the time._ "Of course it was. I ripped it out of Graham's chest with magic. That enchanted the heart and made it glow. I did it so I could control him," she stated matter-of-factly. A slow smile spread into a full-fledged grin at Emma's doe-eyed expression. "If you believe Graham that it is."

She knew Emma's superpower was on but that the Savior's more practical senses would win out over what her instincts dictated. Finally, Emma smiled, sharing the nonexistent joke. "Thank you for your cooperation," she stopped the tape.

"Is that it?"

"That's it. Here, I'll drive you to Granny's. Henry's been anxious to see you all day, and whatever the special is has got to be better than what passes for food here."

"Thank you." She paused, eyes lingering on the box. "Emma, what's being done with the heart?"

Misinterpreting her meaning, Emma gave her a reassuring look. "Don't worry. It's being sent for testing in Boston. They have some crack-shots at mechanics working for the office up there. If anyone knows what that thing is or where Graham got it from, it will be them."

Alarm bells went off. If that heart crossed the town line, the magic in it would fade, and then Graham really would die. Part of her urged her to let it happen. The Huntsman's claims seemed outlandish now, but if he died and it was discovered that he had a rather important organ missing during the autopsy, and then the results came back from Boston matching the heart tissue to Graham…Regina allowed herself to consider this possibility. It was the easiest way to push Emma towards belief. Then again, it would also alienate her son. Regina frowned at the thought. Solving problems had been much simpler when she was evil. "Has it crossed the town line yet?"

Emma stopped at the sudden urgency. "No. Mail doesn't really run here, so I was going to drive it out tomorrow."

Regina calmed a bit. "You can't do that."

The new sheriff gave her a confused look. "Why not?"

She closed her eyes. _I can't believe I'm about to say this._ "Because Graham will die." The Savior's shocked silence was enough of a prompt as anything for her to go on, "Graham was telling the truth. That is his heart, and I did take it."

"Regina—"

"Use your superpower," she interrupted. "The magic keeping that heart beating only exists inside of Storybrooke, and without that magic, he's dead."

"Look, Regina, I know that you play along for your son, but Henry isn't here, and what you're saying is crazy."

"Give the heart to Dr. Whale. He should be able to run tests on it here to prove that it's Graham's," she reasoned. She didn't actually know that for sure, but if all else failed she could use the curse to make someone at the hospital doctor some official looking results. "You don't believe any crime has been committed anyway, so what do you have to lose?"

Emma blinked, confusion lifting as she came to a conclusion that she found even more disturbing. "You really believe it, don't you? Henry's stories, this town…it was never an act." Well, this was an interesting twist. Being the crazy woman who adopted her son wasn't exactly the role Regina had been wanting to play, but if it worked…

"Yes."

Silence.

Regina almost laughed in frustration. Even when being completely honest, Emma wouldn't believe. _Will simple DNA convince her?_ She evaluated the woman's stubborn stance, blinders fully up. _No._ Regina didn't like it, but she was all out of patience with the Savior. It was time for Emma to wake up before she killed someone with her ignorance. "Grab your coat, Miss Swan," she instructed, stalking past her, "We're going to the library."

"Let me guess, to read another storybook?"

"No, to prove that there's magic."

.

.

They didn't speak during the drive, Regina wondering at the insanity of her plan, Emma undoubtedly wondering at Regina's sanity. Still, the Savior humored her. Regina led the way to the old elevator, cranking open the door and then turning to Emma expectantly.

"What?"

"It's an old elevator, Emma. It requires someone to stay up here and press the button to go up and down."

Emma gave her a hard look. "You've got to be kidding. You expect me to let you lower me into the basement with no other way to get up than you pushing a button?"

"Make a phone call then," she shot back. "That way if I don't let you back up, someone will come looking for you."

Emma scowled but took out her phone. "This is crazy," she muttered to no one in particular. A beat later, "Hey, Henry. Regina and I are running a little late. We had to stop by the library." Pause. "Yup. I love you too, kid. See you in ten." Ending the call, Emma pocketed the phone and walked skeptically into the service elevator. "Are you sure this thing is still safe?"

She quirked an ironic smile. "When the curse was cast, this was cutting edge technology."

"Yeah, maybe thirty years ago." Regina didn't comment on that. "So, what am I supposed to find down there?"

"Belief, Miss Swan," she closed the safety gate. "In two minutes, I'm pressing this button to bring the elevator back up. Don't miss it."

Regina waited two minutes and fifteen seconds. Just long enough to hear Maleficent roar and Emma's frantic, "REGINA! REGINA, NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME!"

She smiled and pressed the button.

As soon as the lift stopped, Emma shoved her back. Whatever Emma's initial panicked reaction, she had clearly gotten over the shock phase and turned to anger. "What the hell, Regina!"

She scowled at the woman, resisting the urge to slap her. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

Emma's eyes narrowed. "There had to be an easier way than…that," she pointed at the elevator for emphasis.

Regina gave the Savior a patronizing smile. "Like telling you, or letting you take Graham's heart over the town line?" The Savior's eyes hardened, but she kept her mouth shut. "Yes, that would have been easier. But not better."

Emma's features made the subtle shift from granite to concrete. When she spoke, her tone was more controlled, "So, you're really the Evil Queen."

"Reformed," she corrected lightly.

Emma let out a heavy breath, eyes drifting in thought. Finally, "And everything in Henry's book is true." The words spoken, she seemed to relax, as if this town finally made sense for the first time. When she looked back at Regina, the uncertainty was gone. "How do I break this curse?"

"True love's kiss." Emma's eyebrows shot up at that, but Regina carried on, "It has the power to break any curse."

"Right. True love's kiss," she scoffed, then shifted uncomfortably, "except that there's one problem: I don't love anyone. Not like that. I mean, there's Graham, but true love? That's bit of a stretch for someone I thought was crazy an hour ago."

"True love doesn't have to be romantic, Miss Swan." Emma looked up at the formality. Regina had tried to use the Savior's name in this timeline, but old habits died hard, especially with what she was about to say. "Henry is my world, Miss Swan. Without him in my life, I know exactly who I would be." She took a deep breath. "And that's one thing, at least, that we have in common."

Emma shifted uncomfortably. "Look, Regina—"

"I knew what it meant to get you to come here and break the curse," she cut Emma off. "That I would be sharing my son. But I love Henry too much to deny him his family, and you are his family." Too much of the old resentment leaked into that last statement. It confused Emma. They hadn't been enemies in this timeline, and she therefore had no reference for the meaning attached to the words. Still, the message was delivered. Whether or not the Savior chose to accept it was up to her.

Finally, "If you can't live without Henry, then why can't you break the curse?"

It was a legitimate question if you knew nothing about magic, which Emma didn't despite several months with Henry trying to indoctrinate her. "Because I'm not the Savior. You are." Like last time, Emma started at the title, instincts rearing against any binding sense of obligation or responsibility. Not giving her enough time to work through that shock, Regina pressed, "We should go. Henry is waiting."

At Granny's, Henry was waiting in the corner booth where he could see them as soon as they pulled into the parking lot. Both mothers gave him a reassuring smile and wave as they arrived. He scooted over automatically as Emma claimed the seat beside him.

"Hey, kid," she offered a smile that was trying too hard to be casual.

Henry took one look at his birth mother and turned to Regina. "What happened?"

"Nothing damaging," she assured him. "I just showed her the dragon under the library."

His eyes widened. "You have a dragon under the library?! That's so cool!"

"Cool isn't really the word for it, kid," Emma said. "More like 'terrifying.'"

"But you believe! That's the first step to breaking the curse," he practically bounced with excitement, eyes flitting to Regina. This was where his expertise ended on the fairytale front. He believed in the stories but had yet to gain any practical experience. "How did it work last time, mom?"

"Last time?" Emma honed in the key words like a bloodhound.

"Long story," Regina waved off. "Actually, Henry, Emma and I already discussed this before coming over here."

The Savior's eyes narrowed a bit, but she accepted the dismissal of the subject for now. "Yeah, she thinks true love's kiss could do the trick."

Henry beamed. "Really?! Let's try it!"

She smiled but Regina hated the conflict that was obvious in the woman's eyes. Emma didn't fully understand everything yet, but she sensed on some level that breaking the curse would make it harder to leave. Every instinct Regina had practically screamed, _He's my son! _Still, she clenched her jaw and watched as Emma awkwardly leaned down and kissed Henry's forehead.

The moment was anticlimactic. A faint breeze washed through them and the curse of three decades was gone. It was the first magic Regina had felt in months, and it left her feeling almost hollow.

"What's happening?" Emma asked, looking around at Granny's suddenly confused clientele. As the initial shock of awareness began to fade from everyone's faces, their eyes unerringly focused on the source of their salvation in the corner and the Evil Queen an arm's length away

"They're remembering," Regina said tensely. "Emma, they all still know me as the Evil Queen. I'm going to need protection."

Emma nodded, already sliding out of the booth. "I have just the place. Come on."

.

.

"Home again," she said with mock mirth.

"It's the safest place in town right now," Emma explained for the tenth time, "and it's just until things settle down. There are a lot of people calling for your blood out there."

Regina nodded, but she didn't like it any better. Living in the town's prison cell wasn't what she'd meant by protection, but she had to admit that the situation held a certain amount of flare. The first night was over, and no one had thought to look for the Evil Queen in the sheriff's office. Still, she felt like a sitting duck with only one entrance and exit.

"Don't worry. If anyone sees you, then as far as they'll be concerned you're already in the right place."

"I don't think they care if I'm locked up or not," she stated drily.

Emma caught her meaning but still held an inordinate amount of faith in people. "Mr. Gold says he has something that will help everyone pull together," she announced for a change in topic. "Any ideas what that is?"

She looked up, only mildly surprised. "He's going to want you to slay that dragon under the library. Before the curse, he hid a potion inside: bottled True Love, made with ingredients from your parents nauseatingly enough. It's the only thing that can restore magic to Storybrooke." Regina turned serious at the expression of complete incredulity on Emma's face. Clearly, she was re-thinking having any sort of dealings with Mr. Gold no matter what results he promised. While Regina would normally agree with that sentiment, now wasn't the time to make a stand against Rumple. "We need that magic."

"Why?" The word was a challenge. Whatever the events of the last twelve hours, 'magic' was a danger word in Emma's vocabulary, an element not needed to fight the dangers of this realm.

Regina almost kept her mouth shut but decided against it. Now wasn't the time to be stingy with information. "Because now that there's no curse masking this town, Peter Pan's minions can enter Storybrooke, and they're searching for Henry."

The brought Emma up short. "Peter Pan? The Disney character?"

"Peter Pan the perpetually homicidal adolescent," she corrected. "He needs Henry's heart to live forever, and we can't defeat him without magic."

Emma blinked. "You're serious?"

"When it comes to our son, always."

She nodded, eyes wide but focused. "Okay, so bottled True Love. Do you have any tips on how to beat your scaly pet?"

Regina offered a tight smile. "Don't get burned."

.

.

She woke up. It took a dozen heartbeats to realize what had happened, her mind slow to move into full consciousness. _I feel different. No, the air feels different, like…_She broke off mid-thought, abruptly sitting up in her cell. Tentatively, she reached out for her magic. And it was there.

A chuckle started in her throat, fueled by her relief into a full laugh. _Finally!_

Feeling more energized than she had in months, Regina experimentally probed the lock of her cell with light magic. Her fingers glowed faintly, illuminating the grin on her face. The cell door swung open. Walking more than four steps without bars to stop her had never felt so wonderful. Still she didn't go far. Grabbing the telephone on Emma's desk, she quickly dialed Henry's number. No response. Her next try was Miss Swan.

"_Hello?"_

Regina closed her eyes briefly in relief. If Emma was answering, then Henry was probably somewhere nearby. "Miss Swan."

A pause from the other end of the line. _"Regina?"_

An excited voice came through in the background, _"Mom?! Mom, we did it! Emma came out with a sword and everything!"_

Regina found herself grinning. "Henry? Where are you?"

"_We're just outside the station,"_ Emma's voice came back._ "Someone must have tipped them off to where you are. There's a mob gathering."_

"Of course there is." She was happy despite this knowledge.

_BANG!_

"_They've broken down the front door!"_ Henry had apparently taken the phone from Emma. _"Don't worry, mom. We're coming."_

"Henry, stay where you are," she instructed calmly. "I'm coming to you." She hung up, not waiting for a reply. Reaching again for her magic, she pictured the sidewalk across the street and disappeared in a swirl of purple smoke.

Her smoke fading, she found that she was standing well behind the angry mob and just a few feet from a stunned Emma and relieved Henry. "Mom!" He immediately rushed her, latching around her waist in a hug. Regina wrapped her arms around him, assuring him that she was here. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," she smiled and kissed the top of his head.

Emma shifted, "Guys, maybe another time."

Regina looked up as the crowd turned, Whale predictably at the forefront. "There she is!" he accused, the mob swelling behind him.

Quickly, she stepped in front of Henry, her eyes narrowing. Clearly, they hadn't witnessed her sudden appearance across the street. "Back off," she bit out, taking a threatening step towards them. Also predictably, they did.

Perhaps feeling braver for the numbers behind him, Whale pushed himself forward again. "You don't have your powers anymore. We know what you did to us, Your Majesty, and you're going to fix this."

Smiling, Regina stepped forward, invading Whale's personal space, "You're right," she leaned in then brushed past him, addressing the crowd, "I am going to fix this. All of this." Recognizing a stage when she saw one, she opened her arms to encompass the town. "But it will take time," turning back to Whale, "and patience."

He grabbed her neck, using it to pull her closer. "I'm all out of patience."

Regina flicked her wrist, flinging him back in a burst of dark magic. "So am I," she leveled coldly. The mob was quiet around her, old fear flaring anew. Regina frowned at them. She'd hated this phase of the last few years.

"She won't hurt anyone," Henry cried, rushing between her and the town.

"Henry—"

"No!" he cut Emma off. "She's the one who brought you here. She's the one who's been trying to get you to believe. She wanted the curse to be broken!" Henry didn't see it, but the mob cast disbelieving looks behind him. "She's changed."

"Prove it."

The soft words carried far and Regina found him quickly, Graham's lean form weaving easily through the press of bodies. He held his heart in his hand. How he had managed to get his hands on it was anyone's guess. Then again, he had been the sheriff in Storybrooke for decades and was doubtless familiar with the small evidence cage in his old office. She hesitated a heartbeat before walking determinedly towards him. Plucking the enchanted heart from his palm, she paused long enough to make eye contact. "This will hurt," she warned, then thrust the organ back into his chest.

Graham gasped, but his instincts were good. He leaned forward instead of back, allowing her the extra half second to settle the heart securely before removing her hand. His eyes sparked, the full depth of his emotions screaming into consciousness all at once. The strongest of these was hatred, yet even though there was murder in his eyes, he was still an honorable man. Despite everything she had done to him.

Around them, the crowd began to murmur. Thankfully, at this point David arrived. "Go home," he instructed, "We'll make sure that the Queen doesn't hurt anyone."

"No offense," said Granny, hefting her crossbow, "but who's going to stop her? You?"

"Me," Emma stepped up. "I'm the Savior, right? That's gotta count for something." This seemed to calm everyone down or at least enough to limit their actions to low grumbles while they shuffled away.

Regina watched Emma carefully. Despite having broken a curse and battled a dragon, she was getting ready to run. "Thank you," she said quietly. Much as it pained her, she knew what she needed to do. "Miss Swan, Henry won't be safe with me for a while."

It took the Savior a beat to bring her mind back into focus. "Of course," she started, as if that was the only option and his grandfather wasn't standing mere feet away. "Henry can stay with me."

"No," the urgency in Henry's voice alarmed her, "I just got you back."

Regina knelt down. _I feel the same way._ "I know, but it isn't safe with me right now. I need you to go with Emma, okay?" Leaning forward, she whispered, "Operation Keep the Savior in Storybrooke."

His eyes cleared, a small smile replacing his worry. "Maybe you should leave the Operation names to me," he whispered back.


	6. S02 Light and Dark

**Storybrooke, Day 1 after the breaking of the Dark Curse…**

Regina stood in the midst of what was left of her home. She felt violated.

Last night, she'd come home to a broken lock. After casting a quick protection spell, she'd acknowledged the odd shadows cast by what remained of her living room before choosing to magic her way upstairs, reconstruct her bed, and ignore reality until morning. Now in the stark glare of early dawn, she wished she had taken the time to fix everything before she could properly see the damage.

Floorboards had been pulled up, furniture turned over and slashed where likely—and unlikely—hiding places might be. Evidence of a sledge hammer remained in the form of several large holes in the walls, handfuls of insulin sticking out at random angles. Only one person had had their memory long enough and the motivation to inflict this kind of damage: Graham. Regina could almost picture it. Graham's systematic yet frenzied destruction of her house, the Huntsman warring in his head. Nothing had been left untouched in the search for her vault. As if she would keep something so damning in a place as obvious as her home.

As she picked her way carefully over shattered shards of glass and pottery, Regina had the sudden urge to burn everything. She wasn't particularly attached to the things in this house. But Henry was. Years from now, he'd told her that he had always found the sameness of the house comforting when he stayed, a constant in his ever-changing life. Setting aside her own feelings on the matter, Regina closed her eyes, forcing herself to picture the rooms as they had been, and reached for her magic. Her skin tingled slightly accompanied by the soft _clink-chink_ of reassembling glass. When she opened her eyes, the room was as it should be. Whole. Despite this, it still felt wrong, as if a trespasser lingered just around the next corner. Ignoring the irrational thought, Regina marched purposefully towards the kitchen.

Most the contents of the fridge showed obvious signs of a search. Even the wrapping on Henry's favorite sandwich cheese showed creases. What had possessed Graham to go through her food she didn't know and didn't care. With a flick of her wrist, the drawers emptied leaving behind the clean scent of fresh lemons. The cupboards yielded similar results. A bag of Maxwell House coffee had been overturned, grounds falling out in a rush when she opened the door. Regina frowned at the offending bag. It was a brand she recalled Graham had given her last year but that she had never been fond of. Frowning, she plucked the bag out of the cupboard and deposited it in the trash.

Allowing a minute to wallow, she leaned against the counter before taking stock of what needed to be done today. It was a depressingly long list. Deciding to take care of the least item first, Regina settled on an apple for breakfast. It wasn't the strongest choice she'd ever made, but the apple was easy enough to eat on the drive to Mary Margaret's. If the old Storybrooke was an indication, then the loft would be the most likely place to find the Charming couple and start actively planning how to avoid the future. Given recent events though, Regina thought it best if they could see her coming instead of materializing at the door.

Most of Storybrooke was out in force, caught in the immediate panic of waking up in a new land and searching for loved ones. A few noted the mayor's car and stood in angry defiance by the roadside, daring her to run them over. Some of the dwarves detached themselves from the mob and followed at what they clearly believed was a discreet distance. She could practically feel their alarm when her car parked in front of Snow's apartment. Before they could spring from hiding, Regina marched into the building. She paused just inside the entryway, waiting expectantly for the door to reopen. When the dwarves didn't appear, she sighed in relief. An audience was something she neither wanted nor could afford for the conversation that was coming, especially if Leroy was one of the company. Bolstered by this small success, she continued up the stairs and knocked sharply.

"Just a minute!" David called, accompanied by a girlish giggle that left no room for interpretation of what had just been interrupted. Another minute and more giggles passed. Frowning, Regina knocked again. Harder this time. The door swung open, revealing a half-dressed Charming with a lopsided grin. One look at who their guest was wiped that smile right off his face. The Charmings' reactions were almost comical in their predictability. David immediately grabbed his sword, leveling it at her throat. Snow's mouth pressed into the grim line that meant she wasn't in the mood for peddled lies.

Regina gave the blade a glance before stating firmly, "I come in peace."

"What do you want, Regina?" Snow bit out.

Annoyance flared. "That's a fine welcome for the woman who brought your daughter here to break the curse."

"For the woman who cast the curse," David corrected.

She spared him a mild glare. After this morning, her heart just wasn't in a fight. "Point taken, but that doesn't change the fact that I've been trying to break my curse and, now that you two have woken up, we need to discuss how to protect everyone from what's coming."

David's eyes hardened, but he would defer to Mary Margaret in this. Snow knew her better and would be able to sense a trap. Regina waited. Finally, Snow reached a decision. "Five minutes."

"Thank you." Side-stepping Charming, she took a bracing breath. "This is going to sound a little crazy." The explanation went downhill from there, punctuated by David's _humphs_ of disbelief and Snow's thundering silence. By the time she'd finished, she knew that just words wouldn't be enough.

Charming outright laughed. "Let me see if I have this right. Sometime in the future Storybrooke starts getting erased from time, and the person we choose to send back to save us all is you. Do you really expect us to believe any of this?"

Regina could feel her face settling into the hard expression she normally wore when facing an unwanted problem. "Whether you believe me or not is immaterial. It's going to happen unless things change. Drastically." The couple gave each other a meaningful look. "Oh, for heaven's sake," she practically growled. "Just get Blue. I'll cast some light magic and then maybe we can move past this."

The Charmings seemed genuinely surprised by her statement, although Regina had to concede that was fair from their perspective. Not taking her eyes off Regina, Snow uttered a simple, "David." Apparently no more communication was needed because his mouth set into a very thin, unhappy line.

"Give us a minute," he instructed. "Then we'll all go together."

"Fine. Don't take twenty minutes to put your shirt on," she tossed over her shoulder.

All seven of the dwarves were crowded around the front of the building when she came out. Silent witnesses. Regina pointedly ignored the show of support for Snow and David. If standing there made them feel better, let them.

When the Charmings finally emerged, they looked more ready for battle than a drive across town. David's sword swung at his side and Mary Margaret had produced a bow and arrows from somewhere in her apartment. Regina tried and failed to hide her ire. As if those weapons could have ever protected them if she hadn't wanted them alive and suffering the first time.

She waited long enough for them to get in David's truck before starting her engine.

Blue had never been particularly helpful. Even after Regina had started using light magic in the old Storybrooke, the fairy had never offered to train her. In fact, Tinkerbell had confided that all of the fairies had been forbidden from doing so. Regina suspected that this was because Blue feared that the knowledge would only make her more powerful if she ever turned back to darkness, but she'd never been sure. As such, the extent of hers and Blue's interactions had been Regina barging into the chapel to ask advice only to have the fairy give some begrudging answer to get rid of her. Frankly, Regina didn't like her. But Blue was honest. Mostly. That honesty was what Regina was counting on as she strode through the chapel's wide double doors. Déjà vu hit her as the fairy pursed her lips, eyes widened in habitual fear at the sight of the Evil Queen. "Calm down. I'm not here to cause trouble."

"It's true," Snow stepped in although her tone conveyed her obvious doubts of Regina's motivations.

Blue calmed enough to fake a veneer of composure. "Then, why are you here?" she directed more at Regina than Snow.

"I've changed." She ignored the open disbelief and carried on, "I'm going to cast some light magic as proof, but these two can't recognize the difference. That's where you come in."

This gave Blue pause. With a final glance at the Charmings, she audibly sighed. "Very well," she assented primly.

Regina dismissed her annoyance and held her hands in front of her, palms out. The motions weren't strictly necessary, but Regina had always found that a physical gesture helped to focus her magic. Her hands glowed brightly as she wove the necessary instructions together until the spell vibrated out of her skin. The barrier moved in a wave, settling along the windowpanes and between the cracks in the floorboards. The chapel interior glowed a heartbeat longer before shimmering out of sight, but it was still there. An effective barrier against the Dark One or any heartless minions. The barrier could be broken, of course, but it would take time and give anyone inside plenty of warning of what was coming for them.

She couldn't quite help the grin that spread across her face. No matter how she had changed, using magic was still like taking a deep breath after learning to live with too little oxygen. Nothing was like it, and light magic held a different jolt than the usual dark fare. She'd mastered this particular protective spell while trying to keep the effects of the time portal contained in the old Storybrooke. The love connected to it had set her skin tingling, but she'd been too terrified at the time to enjoy the sensation. Still, the casting didn't come without a price. It would take a physical toll later, but not for now.

Turning her gaze to Blue, she was pleased to see the shocked expression on the fairy's face. The silence might have been amusing except that Snow and David were waiting. "Well?" she prompted.

That seemed to snap the fairy out of her musings. "That is light magic. Quite powerful light magic actually."

David barely acknowledged this before speaking up, "You're sure this isn't a trick?" At Regina's pointed look, he added, "We've given you chances before, and you're a powerful sorcerous. Just because you've learned something new doesn't mean that you've changed."

"Actually, that's exactly what it means," Blue interjected. Now the center of attention, she explained, "Light and dark magic are fundamental opposites. Apprentices can manage low levels of both, but in order to cast a spell of any real power requires a certain amount of…commitment." She paused significantly, allowing that to sink in. "Regina couldn't have cast that spell without changing."

Something was still off in the fairy's expression, but Regina chose to ignore it. Now was neither the time nor place to grill Blue about what she was hiding. Still, it was something she'd need to follow up on later. Rounding on the Charmings, "From the horse's mouth." Blue looked offended, but Regina chose not to notice. "Can we talk now?"

.

.

The most vocal obstacle to her inclusion manifested in the form of Graham. Regina hadn't expected that, but she shouldn't have been surprised. Whenever she spoke to Emma or the Charmings, the Huntsman was there to remind them not to trust her, that she had tricked them before, that the Evil Queen couldn't really change or at least in no way that was permanent. Despite Blue's initial assurances, it was an uphill battle. Fortunately for Regina, the town looked to the young couple for leadership, which meant that they needed to demonstrate at least a semblance of unity in the ranks.

Asking Regina to act as magical advisor was a show of power. Blue had traditionally held that role, and Rumple might have also filled the void, but Regina was still the one seen as the real threat. That meant showing their people that the Evil Queen was working for them. Regina was aware of the apparent demotion but kept her pride carefully in check. Besides, it allowed her to consult with her in-laws about the future freely without her time travel secret getting out to someone who gossiped. Like Leroy.

Snow was giving some speech about hope and pulling together even though they were all still trapped in Storybrooke. Most of the crowd's attention was on their chosen monarchs, David looking noble while Snow did all the talking, yet Regina could feel the Huntsman's cold hatred and the dwarves' open disgust from twenty feet away. She kept her back firmly to them. Nothing but time offered hope of clearing her name with Graham. As for the dwarves, it wasn't her fault that they had been foolish enough to shove one of their own over the line and send everyone into a panic. Words wouldn't help them. So instead, Regina moved purposefully away, making a show of inspecting the town line that had everyone so frenzied.

The first time this had happened, Regina had no interest in leaving. The realm outside this cursed town had never held much appeal for her, so she'd never attempted an exodus. As the curse's caster, Regina had been free to travel to and from Storybrooke without consequence. With Mr. Gold's addition of bottled True Love, however, the barrier felt different than it had on the few occasions she'd had to leave Storybrooke during the curse. Cautious, she pressed an ungloved hand against the barrier. The air shimmered in response, magic seeping into her skin, pulling her over—In one deft movement, Regina replaced her glove and stepped back. As useful as Mayor Mills' memories could be, she held no desire for those to be her only memories.

"Hey," Emma said by way of greeting. The Savior was less wild-eyed than she'd been a week ago, but she was still a flight risk and would be for quite some time if future experience was any indication. "Any idea what this thing is?"

"A side-effect," she frowned, "nothing we need worry about. We'll all be fine as long as no one tries to leave."

Emma shifted closer, glancing briefly at the crowd to make certain no one had wandered within hearing distance. "And have you seen this…you know, before?"

Regina gave her a measuring glance before answering. Emma had taken the news that Regina was from the future remarkably well. The Savior had nodded and given a crisp _Of course_, clearing filing the information under her ever-growing mental list of facts that she hadn't yet taken time to process. When Emma did finally take the time to come to terms with her new life, Regina knew she wouldn't be nearly as understanding. Still, the temporary reprieve from that emotional crisis was welcome.

"Yes," she responded cryptically. Sensing another round of questions, Regina carried on, "My son was here. I wasn't exactly looking to leave."

"In other words you didn't care," she read between the lines.

"No, I didn't."

The atmosphere was tense between them, as it had been since the curse broke. Emma was still coming to terms with how she fit into the dysfunctional family that had materialized overnight. Regina hadn't pressed the issue. Even with magic, it was no small mental shift to ask anyone to make. Emma straightened a fraction, a tell that she had made a decision of some sort. "Did we fight over him in your Storybrooke?"

Regina didn't have to ask who he was. "Of course we did."

At length, Emma voiced the real question that was on her mind, "Who won?"

A small smile tugged at her lips. With how much they doted on him, the outcome should have been obvious to them both the first time around. "Henry."

From the pitch of Snow's voice, Regina gathered that the speech was winding down. The first of the cars started, the townsfolk turned back from their foolhardy attempt to escape. Footsteps sounded purposefully behind them. Regina mentally collected herself before turning around. The Charmings would want answers, and this had to be handled delicately to prevent either one of them from being launched on some heroic quest.

Concern blossomed on Snow's face. She still wore the same expression as in childhood, the this-is-a-problem-that-needs-to-be-fixed expression with a splash of practical experience that had been absent in her youth. "What can you tell us?" The tone was matter-of-fact. Not exactly an order but broaching no room for an alternative direction in the conversation. Regina might have smiled at the spot of nostalgia if the situation had allowed it.

"The barrier was always part of the curse. It's just that people don't have the innate failsafe that stops them from trying to leave anymore." She purposefully left out that she was likely no longer immune to the town line. The last thing she needed was the Huntsman getting any ideas.

"But Emma broke the curse," David reasoned. "Why is the barrier still here at all?"

"She did, but the magic maintaining Storybrooke was never conditional on the curse being intact. If it was then breaking the curse would have been a death sentence," she answered evenly.

The small group took a moment to absorb this. Emma shifted, missing the most basic instincts that any child of the Enchanted Forest would have. "Wait," she started, "why a death sentence? I mean, the town may disappear but then wouldn't we just be in the woods somewhere?"

Surprisingly, Snow took this one. "We're not part of this world, Emma, and neither is this town." The words were measured, trying to explain the gut truth she _knew_ but was uncertain how to articulate.

Still missing the connection, Emma frowned. "Neither am I, but I survived just fine. The real world isn't that scary." Her parents exchanged a glance, part hurt at Emma's rejection of their world as being real and part assurance that they had done the right thing in putting their child in a magical wardrobe.

Sensing the couple's private crisis, Regina picked up the explanation, "That's because you're the Savior, Emma. The exception to the curse. But we don't belong in this world. Undoing the magic that binds Storybrooke to this realm wouldn't just erase the town. It would erase all of us."

The Charmings seemed content with this explanation but Graham's eyes narrowed to a fine point. "This happened before, in the other Storybrooke," he stated quietly.

She kept her expression schooled but silently cursed the Huntsman. He was entirely too perceptive, and she had hoped to keep the Enchanted Forest's existence hidden until the Charmings trusted her a bit more. She briefly considered lying but dismissed the idea just as quickly. If the previous Storybrooke had taught her anything it was that the truth would come out sooner rather than later and probably under the most disadvantageous circumstances. "It did," she returned tightly.

"How did we avoid it?" David demanded, his hand unconsciously slipping down to his sword pommel.

Now came the moment of truth. How the Charmings handled this news could either help preserve this timeline or send them hurtling towards a slightly skewed repeat. "I returned us to the Enchanted Forest."

Shock coupled with dangerous hope practically radiated off them like a sudden beacon. "It still exists?" Snow breathed.

"It's not the place you remember," Regina cautioned. "The ogres have returned."

This news hit them like a physical blow. Emma crossed her arms over her chest, a common response for her when confronted with something wholly outside of her current mindset. "Ogres?"

"Mindless creatures," Graham spoke with quiet intensity. "The size of ten men and the strength of twenty. They delight in slaughter, taking life for no reason."

"My father drove back the ogres, secured our borders," Snow's voice held a note of desperation, grasping at straws to discredit what Regina had said.

Her expression softened. "Twenty-eight years is a long time."

The group went still, the couple drawing strength from each other, the Huntsman no doubt thinking of his wolves, the Savior trying to incorporate ogres into her list of new truths to come to grips with. Wrapping an assuring arm around his wife, Charming spoke with a confidence born of ignorance, "The ogres have been driven back before. We can do it again."

"The ogres are the least of the dangers," Regina shot that plan down before it could form.

Emma's expression was that of a startled deer. "There's something worse than ogres?"

"Yes," she gave them a humorless smile. "My mother." The transformation in Snow was instantaneous. Even the Huntsman breathed a soft curse.

Emma took in the scene, once again the outsider. "I take it that's a bad thing."

Snow was the one to answer, "Cora is the most twisted, evil, heartless sorceress in all the lands."

Emma cast a nervous glance at Regina to gauge her reaction. "Even the Dark One is afraid of her," she deadpanned then added for Emma's benefit, "and she is heartless. She removed it long before she had me."

The Savior absorbed this as best she could while her mother reached another conclusion, "We can never go back." This is what Regina almost missed about pre-murder Snow: these absolute statements that allowed no room for gray matter or interpretation. Regina remained silent, watching their reactions to see how the next should be played. Finally pulling herself from her reverie, Snow looked up, past experience combining with current information. "She's looking for you."

It wasn't a leap for someone who knew them. Cora had always been obsessed with two things: power and her daughter. In that order. With a power vacuum in the Enchanted Forest, it was an easy assumption that Cora was pulling the strings if not outright ruling the realm. That achieved, her secondary objective of finding and manipulating Regina would take precedence. Still, the revelation was a surprise for everyone else. Charming accepted the statement with the calm of the naïve. The Huntsman's expression held a bit more alarm but not nearly enough. Hopefully, that wouldn't have to change.

"There are measures that we can take," she assured Snow. "The well where Mr. Gold brought back magic can be opened as a portal between the Enchanted Forest and this realm. If we seal the opening on this end, then it will stop anyone from coming through."

David nodded, grasping the rudiments of the plan. "So Cora opens a portal to come here—"

"—and she never arrives," Snow finished her husband's thought.

The hardness that settled over them was unmistakable. Finally catching on, Emma prompted, "Never arrives, as in…"

"She'll die," Regina said, allowing a bit of flint into her tone.

Emma cast them a disbelieving look that quickly morphed into shock. "You're going to kill your own mother?"

Regina stiffened at the accusation, using annoyance to mask her feelings. "I'm not killing her."

"Just sealing the exit that you know she'll use," the Savior shot back. She looked to her parents for support but found no help there. Disbelief rattled her again. "You can't be serious."

"Don't spout your high morals at me, Savior," the title came out as a sneer. "Anything I've done, anything I _do_ is child's play compared to what will happen if my mother comes here. I came back to protect this town, which is supposed to be your job." Any comradery that might have started between the two evaporated. Emma was looking at her as she had during that first year in the old Storybrooke: as the monster who had raised her son.

"What do we need to do?" Snow interjected, calmer now that a plan was available.

Ignoring the flailing Emma, Regina recalled her attention to the problem at hand. "You can't do anything. Mr. Gold and I will have to cast a curse over the well's mouth."

They nodded, accepting this solution as only those who had been targets of magic could. Emma continued to look at them in growing dismay. "This is murder." When her appeal didn't have the desired impact on her parents and pseudo-boyfriend, she took a step back. "Henry keeps telling me you're supposed to be the good guys, but even in this world this isn't good."

"Emma, you don't know—" David started, but Emma took another step back, silencing any attempt he might have made to reach his daughter.

Regina frowned at this turn of events. She hadn't had to deal with the Savior's initial crisis of belief last time. The short mother-daughter trip to the Enchanted Forest had done wonders for Emma's depth of belief. Without that forced growth though, she could very easily take Henry and run. Echoing her appraisal, Emma's jaw hardened in judgment and she stalked away.

.

.

Convincing Rumple to help her cast the spell wasn't difficult. All she had to do was mention Cora and wait for the implications to sink in. Now walking away from the sealed well, Regina allowed herself to feel something.

She didn't know for certain that Cora would succeed in finding this particular portal. There were other ways into Storybrooke, not the least of which being the last of the giant's magic beans. What she did know is that sometime in the next few years Zelena would move to the Enchanted Forest from Oz. Cora may initially try to ally herself with her long lost eldest child, but Regina was secure in knowing where her mother's priorities had always lain. With any luck, they would destroy each other without ever finding Storybrooke. Of course, if they didn't destroy each other, then whoever won would be coming. If it was Zelena, she would be in for a nasty surprise in that her little sister had light magic. And if Cora won…Regina glanced back at the well. _I can always crush her heart._


	7. S02 Heartstrings

The next few months did not go well between Regina and the Savior. Thankfully, Emma's newfound familial ties kept her rooted in Storybrooke, if only on a provisional basis. The former scenario of Henry sneaking away to spend time with his birth mother had been reversed. While Emma was on-duty, Henry would show up for a surprise visit at the mayor's office or ambush her for dinner at Granny's. Regina was sure Emma suspected, but despite the Huntsman's misgivings he was eager enough to have a few planned nights to make amends with his girlfriend.

Ironically, the decision to possibly kill her mother had done wonders in repairing the multifaceted trust issues between herself and the Charmings. Although they had never been faced with the dilemma of killing for their child, it didn't take much soul searching for them to come to the uncomfortable conclusion that they doubted whether their ever present morals would withstand the test. As such, they sympathized even if they didn't fully understand.

"There something wrong with that pie?"

She glanced up at Granny's comment. The old woman was cantankerous but was also one of the few people in town willing to hold a semi-civil conversation with the Evil Queen. "The pie's fine," she answered vaguely.

Granny refilled her coffee and gave the untouched rhubarb a pointed look before moving back to her vigil behind the counter.

Regina cast another glance at the clock. Mary Margaret was late. Then again, that was to be expected. In the apparent absence of any impending doom, Storybrooke's inhabitants had mostly settled into a comfortable holding pattern while the young rulers appeared to work on the problem of the town line. Of course, they were working on it, just not in the way that everyone had been led to believe. Every scrap of magic that had reawakened in and under Storybrooke was being collected and stockpiled by the fairies. The spell that Regina had cast to demonstrate her light magic had given Blue an idea about weaving a similar spell around the whole of Storybrooke, but even the collective minions of good didn't have magic powerful enough to maintain such a barrier. And so magical objects were needed to supplement the casting. It was a solid plan and one that was encouragingly different from the other timeline. Regina had offered some general pointers of where pixie dust was likely to be mined, and one of the two Charmings had been with the dwarves ever since. What they were doing was important. Still, the lateness irked her.

In her mind's eye, she saw her mother gliding towards her, the empty smile donned. _You must always be punctual, darling. _Regina frowned as she recalled her mother's words. That was what she disliked the most about people not being on time. It reminded her of how much like Cora she had become.

The door chimed and Snow hurried in, her face contorted into an exaggerated expression of penance. When they'd first met, Regina had wondered if the child princess practiced these faces in a mirror or if she was just trying to manipulate the adults around her. The realization had come as something of a shock that Snow was being honest for the simple reason that she'd never had to learn how to hide her emotions. Now, even decades later, the old habit of wearing her heart on her sleeve still shone through. "Sorry I'm late," she started.

"Don't worry about it," Regina waved off the apology. She waited just long enough for Snow to sit before launching into her report, "There's been no sign of the _Jolly Roger_ or any unexplained missing persons. How are the dwarves coming along with the pixie dust?"

"Fine," the tone was a tad too alert before covering with a smoother, "Nothing yet."

Her question answered, Regina finally took a bite of the rhubarb. "Well, just be sure that all of the 'nothing' makes its way to Blue quickly. Mr. Gold will be leaving town soon, and that's when things are likely to happen."

Mary Margaret folded her hands in front of her, the classic elementary teacher settling in for a lecture on the obvious. "Are you sure?"

She nodded grimly. Mr. Gold hadn't caused any trouble, which she took to mean that he was preparing for his 'secret' trip across the town line. That meant directing him towards Miss Swan as a guide and Henry going with them. It was a calculated risk. One that Regina didn't like. She wasn't worried about Emma taking Henry anymore. Even if she tried, Henry would run away back to Storybrooke. He was already too attached to his family to accept being kept apart from them. But the Lost Boys were about to descend on Storybrooke along with the psychotic Owen and Tamara, and that meant sending Henry well out of harm's way.

Regina frowned worriedly. She was just going to have to trust that Henry would be safe between the Savior and the Dark One. Refocusing, "How is our resident Savior doing anyway?" The sarcasm practically dripped into her coffee.

Again, Snow's features shifted into a cross of confusion and concern before settling on a brave face. "She's adjusting," Mary Margaret said with more optimism than the question warranted. "Have you tried patching things up with her?"

Regina gave the woman an arch look. "Have you met your daughter? She hasn't exactly been in a forgiving mood lately."

Snow made a placating gesture. "I'm just saying that it isn't good for Henry to see his mother…and his other mother fighting."

"We aren't fighting. That would require Emma to stay in the same room long enough for me to insult her." She forked a bite to have something to do and took a noncommittal nibble. As long as Emma was convinced she was Henry's only safe option as a mother, they had nothing to talk about. Besides, part of Regina was rather enjoying being on the receiving end of Henry's affections. Even in her Storybrooke, he had consistently chosen Emma over her. This wasn't to say that Henry hadn't loved her, but Regina wasn't being shunted to the side like last time. And there was something delicious about stealing time to discuss secret operations and make plans, almost like before Henry knew she was the Evil Queen.

"You should still try," Mary Margaret persisted, "for Henry."

She didn't comment on the irony of Snow giving her parenting advice. From what little she had seen of the Charmings' interactions with their daughter they alternated between being awkward and overly protective. Still, she could see that Snow wasn't going to budge on this. "I'll try." The words came out more hostile than she'd intended, but Snow seemed pleased enough with the promise.

Granny chose that moment to plod over with a hot chocolate and cinnamon. Having deposited her offering, she gave another pointed look at the barely touched pie. "Can I get you anything?" she directed at Snow. "Rhubarb?"

Regina glared, but the old matron chose not to notice.

"Uh, no, thank you. Actually," her eyes slid to the clock, "I need to get going. Grumpy thinks we're getting close."

"Well, that's wonderful." A bit of the tart returning, she turned to Regina, "And you?"

"I'm leaving," she answered drily. She needed into get to the office anyway. Between the curse being broken and the mayhem that had followed, several items had been neglected when creating the annual budget. Those items would have to be redressed soon. Just because Storybrooke was isolated didn't make it immune from this realm's problems.

"I'll just box this up," Granny announced, whisking the plate away.

A minute later, Regina was walking briskly towards her car.

Storybrooke was just entering Spring. Snow still lingered but it wasn't unbearably cold. Another month and a light jacket would be fine. These were the benign thoughts that were flitting through her mind when the brown station wagon barreled into her.

.

.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

The noise was annoying. It was the type of steady rhythm that could fade into the background if you were doing something else but that could drive you crazy otherwise. There was something vaguely familiar about it, but she couldn't place what.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

Ah, yes. The hospital. That's where she remembered it from, waking up after Owen's crazed interrogation about his father. But that was in the other Storybrooke. Still, the memory connected with something important. Something more immediate.

_Beep-beep-beep-beep!_

Memories assaulted her in rapid succession. The car veering off the road. The alarm. The barrier she'd barely had time to cast. The recognition of the driver. Panic.

She opened her eyes to a half-pulled curtain and Dr. Whale studying her vitals with professional concern. Memories still fresh in her mind, her first instinct was to get off this damned hospital bed and protect her son. "Calm down, you're alright," he assured her. Regina ignored him, sitting up only to slump over as the world turned sideways. "Take it easy." She felt a pressure on her shoulder, supporting her. Whale's hand. "You took quite the nasty knock to the head."

Experimentally, Regina blinked a few times, bringing the world back into focus. She was staring at the paper hospital gown that covered her lap. So she'd been here long enough to be properly admitted. That was a bad sign. "How long?" she rasped. Regina started at the sound of her own voice.

"A few days." Reading her immediate alarm, he spoke in an even calmer voice, "Do you remember what happened?"

She forced herself to take a deep breath. "I was hit," she croaked. Realms, she sounded awful.

Whale was nodding confirmation. "You're actually quite lucky. Aside from a concussion and some bruising, you're relatively unharmed." He seemed to believe what he was saying, which was a good sign she supposed.

"The driver?"

"He wasn't so lucky. He hasn't woken up yet." Regina tried to smile at that but ended up wincing. Misreading her expression, he carried on, "Apparently, Storybrooke has just gotten its first tourist. Sheriff Swan is looking into how he lost control of his vehicle."

She nodded, and her vision only wobbled a bit. "Where are my clothes?"

Dr. Whale placed a firm hand on her shoulder, effectively holding her in place. "You're not going anywhere. Not until tomorrow anyway." It was pathetic how weak she felt. A few days in a hospital bed and she already felt like death warmed over. Instinctively, she reached for her magic but changed her mind. If she could barely manage sitting then standing would probably be hazardous. Besides, for what she had planned she was exactly where she needed to be. Giving in, Regina lay back down, allowing Dr. Whale to pull the dislodged sheet up to her chin. "I'll call Emma and Henry and let them know that you're awake. Until they arrive, try to get some rest."

Regina nodded but resolved to stay awake. The clock told her that it hadn't been ten minutes since Dr. Whale had left, but she could already feel herself trying to slip back into sleep. She felt dull. How much of that was her concussion and how much was the painkillers they had attached to her arm she wasn't sure. She'd never liked the feeling of drugs in this realm. They were effective yet fogged the senses unnecessarily. Sometimes a little pain was exactly what the body needed to know that it was alive and functioning properly.

The next time she was aware, boots were clicking against linoleum coupled with the hurried squeak of sneakers. Moments later Henry was pushing aside the curtain. "Mom," quiet yet earnest, as if she would wilt at too much noise.

"Henry," she smiled.

Henry attached himself to her open hand. "I've been so worried."

"I'm okay," she was appalled at how groggy she sounded but gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze. "I'll be out of here in no time."

"I know you will."

She smiled at that simple faith. "Tell you what, when Dr. Whale clears me to leave, we'll have a big family dinner. Just you, me, Emma, and your grandparents."

Emma chose that moment to come into view. The blond took in the series of IVs at a glance, brow furrowing in concern. "Hey, kid, give us a minute?"

Henry glanced at Regina to check. "Okay," he sighed heavily then rounded on Emma. "Be nice to her." Regina didn't envy the Savior. She had been the target of that look more than once in her Storybrooke, as if she intended to threaten people as soon as he left the room. Of course, she usually had. His message delivered, Henry shot her another smile before walking away.

Emma waited until the sneaker squeak was out of earshot before addressing her, "You look like hell."

Regina snorted in response, which hurt. "Don't worry, Miss Swan. I'll be back to killing off family members in no time." She meant it as a joke, but the blond shifted uncomfortably. Once again put in the position of being the villain, she let out a soft sigh. "I'm sorry. That came out wrong."

"You're fine. I mean, you're the one who was in a car accident," she waved off, sitting heavily on the lone stool meant to make nurses too uncomfortable to stay with any one patient for too long. She hesitated, finally coming around to what she was trying to say, "I've been pretty horrible to you lately."

"True."

Emma winced. "I guess I deserve that."

"Also true." Regina closed her eyes. She really was feeling tired.

"Are you really okay?"

She startled back into full consciousness. "It's just these drugs they have me on," she made an effort to wave her hand. Then, as if the thought had just occurred to her, "Dr. Whale said that the driver was hurt?

"Yeah, Whale is taking care of him. He's just down the hall," Emma hurried to assure her. Regina nodded and closed her eyes again. "You should get some sleep. I'll bring Henry by again later."

.

.

When she woke up, it was night. The IVs had been removed, which explained why she was conscious. She gradually became aware of small noises. The shuffling of feet. The soft scratch of a pencil on paper. Regina waited until the nurse's flats padded through the door at the end of the hall. She then waited for her eyes to adjust to the dark before experimentally pushing herself into a sitting position. The room didn't spin. Reaching for her magic, she pictured the visitor's chair in the room at the end of the hall and disappeared.

The room was empty.

She tried the next four rooms before finally materializing in one that was occupied. The patient had on a neck brace and very clearly wasn't waking up soon. _Good. _Her short trip to his bedside wasn't exactly graceful, but she made it. Stiffening an arm to support her weight, she plunged her hand into his chest. It had been a long time since she'd claimed a heart. Still, the motions were familiar. _Just like..._She grinned.

Her magic transported her briefly to her vault. Just long enough to deposit the heart in a waiting box before whisking herself back into her hospital bed.

The nurse padded into view, checking her vitals with practiced ease. "Ah, you woke up," she greeted softly. "How are you feeling?"

Regina gave an appropriately small smile. "Much better."


	8. S02 Groundwork

**Author's Note: First of all, thank you everyone for the lovely reviews! To answer some questions about character appearances that I have been neglecting: "Yes," most of the favorites from the show will return; however, the events are all jumbled and a bit different.**

**Also, I am going on vacation for the New Year and am unsure how the internet access will be where I'm going, so if the regular update deadline lapses please know that I have not abandoned the fic (I love it too much).**

**.**

**.**

She didn't need to be there when he woke up. Didn't have to blackmail or threaten. She had already spoken over the heart before tucking it away into the darkest corner of her vault. When he did regain consciousness, he would see nothing and hear nothing that would alert him to this town's significance. He would stay because he had to for his accomplice to arrive. Then, he'd lead his partner to the mysterious mausoleum in the woods, and Regina would take Tamara's heart too. They wouldn't be the last, she knew. Henry was too important to Pan to be deterred by two heartless minions, but they wouldn't take Henry. _Not this time._

Her recovery hadn't been helped by the spell she'd woven over Henry's heart while he slept in the visitor's chair. Cast healthy, the spell had made her lethargic for days after the ordeal in Neverland. Casting it after a head injury sentenced her to another half week in the hospital bed, drifting in and out of consciousness as Dr. Whale worried about her sudden regression. It was no petty magic, after all. Still, a few less years of life was a small price to pay to protect her son's heart. _The heart I love most. _It was almost sad that the most powerful protection against dark magic was darker yet and rarely cast. Then again, it was no small wonder. Few had the dedication to truly commit to the dark arts, and once one did it seemed foolhardy to seal away a heart that you may one day need to control. Her own reaction when she'd found the spell amongst the Dark One's tomes had been to laugh.

_Brushing off another dust-laden page, Regina quickly scanned the contents for a possible source for her revenge. As she read, though, she found the corners of her mouth lifting in twisted amusement._

"_Find what you're looking for, dearie?"_

"_Just reading over some old curses," she replied lightly. It wouldn't do for the imp to guess her real purpose: searching for another way to kill Snow White. Her mentor had grown quite tired of her goal of late. Oh, he was still willing to help, but she knew him too well to not have several guesses at his ulterior motives, not the least of which was any possible offspring of the princess and her pretend prince. Rumple seemed obsessed with infants. Regina would never understand this. What use did the Dark One really have for a child except the obvious body parts for curses? Even then, contrary to popular opinion children's organs were not nearly as powerful as their adult counterparts'. So unless the Dark One was keeping a herd of children in a cage just waiting for them to grow up, he had no actual use for them. Regina knew that _she _would certainly never find a use for the creatures beyond magical item retrieval, for which their size made them adept. Setting that train of thought aside, she regarded her mentor more fully. "I was just going over the Heart Shield curse."_

_Rumple's eyes lighted in recognition. "Ah, quite powerful that one. Discovered by one and cast by the same," he trilled. "That's irrelevant to you though."_

"_Oh?"_

_He grinned at the challenge. "You see, it only works on the thing you love most. This requires two things. First," he held up a finger, "it has to have a heart to begin with. And second, you have to willingly give up something that can never be reclaimed: time. Specifically, yours."_

_She raised her eyebrows at that tidbit. "Why create a spell with such a high price when you can just take the heart?"_

_The Dark One stared at her in his unblinking way. "How am I to know?" he shot back testily. "Believe it or not, dearie, even I do not practice all of the dark arts."_

Staring at the stucco ceiling of her hospital room, Regina now wondered if that wasn't all there was to it. Given Rumple's almost single-minded pursuit of his son, a few years of longevity would surely be a paltry price for the Dark One to pay. Or maybe that was the problem. Because he was the Dark One, years meant nothing, which meant that the price meant nothing. Did that mean a different price or that the magic was off-limits to him?

She closed her eyes to turn off that train of thought. It wasn't a problem she could solve without research in tomes well beyond her reach. Besides, the reasons behind the spell only being used once before didn't really matter. The point was that it would protect her son. Still, the spell had limitations. It couldn't stop Henry from ripping his own heart out, but he didn't have magic. Even if he wanted to, Pan couldn't lend a helping hand like last time.

Uneven footsteps called her back to the present. Even as Mr. Gold, Rumple hadn't been known for his compassion. He may have been acting less like the evil imp of the Enchanted Forest, but Regina recognized a front when she saw one. She had used the same tactic often enough during the first years after her curse was broken, plastering on a veneer of reform until no one was looking. Of course, in the end the joke had been on her. She'd actually started believing that she could change for her son. Perhaps the same would hold true for her old mentor. But not today.

The Dark One stalked into view, Belle on his arm. Regina's attention flicked to the daisies in the pretentious crystal vase, no doubt a compromise in taste between the couple. "Regina," Belle greeted. The name was loaded, too many emotions fighting for dominance. The Dark One may have chosen someone with a strong heart, but the maid could be utterly useless with words when she hadn't already decided on how to react to a situation.

"The flowers are lovely," Regina broached, choosing the part of the gift that clearly had Belle's touch. This seemed to resolve whatever scenario that would play out in Belle's mind. She instantly relaxed, placing the vase next to the single red apple on the bedside table.

"Rumple said that you liked them," she shared. "He said that you used to braid them into your hair for hours while you were reading." Belle smiled warmly, unaware of a secret revealed. Rumple straightened almost imperceptibly as Regina's gaze shifted to him.

The only time Regina had ever done that was when she was a child still dreaming of escaping from her mother's grasp. And only when she was alone. Cora had never approved of nature in general and her child's love for the outdoors in particular. Anything with roots needed to be rigidly cultivated and pruned. To Cora, flowers were something to be stiffly arranged in a vase, not growing wild in a field and certainly not in her daughter's hair. That, above all else, was why Regina had clung to her apple tree after Daniel's murder. Although a small victory, it was the only one her mother had allowed, bringing that tree with her. However, she'd never so much as picked a flower after becoming queen, and that meant that the Dark One had been watching her for a very long time indeed.

"I did," she directed at Belle, "a long time ago."

When she didn't say anything else, Belle picked up the conversation again, "I'm surprised not to find Henry here. Emma has had quite the time keeping him in school."

She smiled at that. Henry had been on vigil by her bedside, showing up at times that she knew were school hours even with the curtain pulled to hide the clock. She'd let it slide the first day, happy enough to listen to her son read his storybook. When he'd shown up on the second morning though, she had told him in no uncertain terms that he had to go to school. He'd argued but had finally agreed with the promise that he would be back as soon as the bell rang. He'd popped in at a few odd hours during the day since then but had mostly kept his promise. "He has a knack for sneaking away when he sets his mind to it," she agreed.

"He's a very active little boy," Belle smiled.

"You have no idea," Regina rejoined.

Finding the segue he was looking for, Mr. Gold shifted his weight to his good leg. "Speaking of sons, I've come to collect on the deal we made concerning mine."

Belle shot Rumple a look, as if to say that he was being insensitive towards a woman in a hospital bed. Regina didn't take offense. It had always been Rumple's way to strike when an enemy seemed weakest, and that was a habit he hadn't broken even in her Storybrooke. "Of course," she began, as if they were exchanging pleasantries about the weather. "You'll need to take Emma and Henry with you. Emma's job before all this was tracking down people who didn't want to be found. She'll find your son."

His mouth worked in displeasured. "That will require me calling in a favor."

She quirked an unsympathetic smile. "A small price to pay."

Annoyance flashed, but he regained his composure quickly enough. "Alright, Emma comes, but why the boy?"

"The Savior is for you. Henry will be Emma's condition, and mine."

"You're not telling me everything."

She couldn't quite suppress a chuckle at the absurd accusation. "Since when have we ever done that?"

Belle frowned at the both of them but particularly at Rumple. "Well, if you two are done posturing, we'll be going," she looked meaningfully at the Dark One, and he flinched ever so slightly. All warm smiles, Belle turned back towards Regina, "Thank you for helping him."

"Of course, and thank you for the flowers."

.

.

They never had the family dinner. The day before being discharged from the hospital, Rumple decided it was time to leave. Henry was disappointed, but it was just as well. Regina could just picture them, once hell-bent enemies sitting down to share a meal. The past was a taboo topic as most of them had been trying to kill each other in one form or another for decades, the present was dull, and the future was strictly off-limits. That would have been a very awkward dinner indeed.

Instead of planning seating arrangements, with the greatest sources of light and dark magic gone Regina was able to turn her attention to some loose ends that had been left unattended. Most notably, rigging the dockside and woods with magical traps. It wasn't common knowledge that she had light magic, a precaution Regina insisted on against future threats. To reinforce the image, she had even gone so far as to use her dark magic in public every week or so since the curse broke. Just enough purple smoke to remind people who they were dealing with and where she drew her power from. This did little for her public opinion ratings, but that was a small price to pay.

Even in setting up defenses of the town though, she used curses. Anyone with half a magical wit would be able to identify light magic, and the last thing they needed was an enemy starting to question who had that type of power in town. The first logical choice would be the Savior, but Emma hadn't even attempted to harness her talents, let alone construct the type of barriers that were needed to repel anything more threatening than a stray rabbit. The fairies might be capable but hardly possessed the initiative to attempt such any undertaking. Blue's barrier plan held promise, but Regina suspected the fairy would choke when it came time to perform. Fairies had a tendency to do that unless faced with a direct and very visible threat. That left dark magic.

Still, it made people nervous to have the Evil Queen off casting curses on her own, even if it was done with the Charmings' blessing. As such, she had been assigned a chaperone to make sure she didn't do anything too evil. Strangely enough, Snow had volunteered. It wasn't that they hadn't been working peaceably, but their relationship was a far cry from the bond they'd shared over Cora's and Pan's murders in the old Storybrooke.

Regina frowned at the unbidden thought. _Normal families don't bond over murdering people. _She glanced back at her daughter-in-law, standing at attention with an arrow loosely nocked. _Then again, this family isn't exactly traditional. _

Walking a few feet, Regina cast the next curse in the chain. The air shimmered slightly then returned to normal. Snow continued her silent act, somehow managing to convey emotion just by standing there. "Are you going to say what's on your mind or just stare?" she moved on to the next spot as she spoke. Regina didn't need a visual aid to know that Snow was frowning in that mildly disapproving way of hers.

"I'm just trying to figure out what happened in the other timeline that could change you so much," she admitted. "Sometimes you're like a completely different person, but others…I just don't know."

She sighed inwardly. Regina had never been good at heart-to-hearts. On the only significant occasion it had happened prior, she hadn't had her heart at all. Emotions were dangerous traps waiting to be triggered, and her own past was full of them. "You doubt that I've changed," she stated.

"No, I trust Blue's word, and you do seem different," she amended but left the statement hanging.

Regina frowned at her daughter-in-law. Decisiveness with words was a skill that Snow was still reclaiming from her cursed self. It would improve with time, but that did nothing for the present. Driving to the heart of the issue, "You don't trust me. I can understand that." She cast the next link and moved on. A few curses later, Snow ventured,

"It's Henry that changed you."

She quirked a smile at that. "Motherhood changed both of us." It was the wrong thing to say to this Snow, their relationship still tainted. Regina could practically see Mary Margaret's hackles rising. She used the delay of casting the next curse before adding, "It took us losing our children again to see it, but we work better as allies."

Alarm sparked at that. "Emma–"

"Died," she held Snow's gaze, offering reassurance in her steadiness. "That won't happen this time." It was skipping some events, but that wasn't an important detail at the moment. Eventually, the Savior had been sucked into the time vortex, a victim of her own folly. With that event though, any lingering doubts that remained about Regina's loyalties had been swept aside. She and Snow had begun mending bridges before then, but Emma's death had placed them both firmly on the same side of the gap. This younger Snow wouldn't understand why the death of Henry's birth mother would result in Regina's immediate acceptance as part of the family. Frankly, Regina didn't entirely understand, but it had happened, and as brief as it had been the feeling had been nice.

Snow took a moment to digest this, several more curses being cast in the intern. Finally, "So, how much further does this barrier need to go?"

Regina checked the trees, accepting the subject change. She had never been a great lover of these woods beyond the well-worn tracks she and Henry had created during their early expeditions into the magical world of woodland creatures, but even she could tell that the trees were thinning. Snow probably had a better idea of how close they were to the forest's edge than she, but admitting that wouldn't do. "All along the shoreline until we meet up with the road again. It might take another day to finish."

Snow nodded. "About quarter done then," she assessed.

Another link secured, they kept going.

"Doesn't that getting tiring?"

Regina tilted her head in assent. "Yes," another flare of purple dissipated, "but it has to be done."

"With Emma gone," she prodded.

Another curse shot from her fingertips, flaring a bit more than it should have. It was incredible how Snow could tell her she had changed and then imply she was planning to curse the town almost in the same breath. Accepting that she wasn't evil had taken extreme circumstances before, circumstances that Regina was determined would never happen. She was still resolved to that end but being doubted at every turn was draining. Forcing her frustration back under control, Regina patiently explained, "Emma isn't the problem. It's Rumpelstiltskin. He would be able to guess what I'm trying to keep out from what spells I choose to cast, and none of us need the Dark One trying to see into future affairs any more than he already does."

"He sees the future?"

Regina paused at the startled tone. She had thought that bit of information common knowledge, but Snow sounded genuinely surprised. "Yes," she responded carefully. "He foresaw that a daughter of Cora would cast the dark curse so he could find his son. He orchestrated the entire curse."

The transformation was instant, long festering resentment shifting from Regina to the Dark One. "How could he do that? The lives he's destroyed—" No grey area with this Snow. Only villains and victims.

"Don't judge him too harshly," she interjected. "There's almost nothing a parent wouldn't do for their child." The words sat heavy between them, Snow thinking of her stolen chance with Emma, Regina thinking of the future that would never be. Pulling herself from her thoughts, Regina turned back to casting her curses.

.

.

It had been a long couple of days. Any practitioner not from Storybrooke would theoretically be prevented from entering, but Regina had a short list of enemies she suspected could find their way past the magical landmines. Still, it should discourage any stray magical being from wandering across the town's borders.

In the meantime, the casting was taking its toll. She'd all but lost her appetite and had a migraine that wouldn't be subdued with any amount of Tylenol. Closing her eyes, Regina pressed an open palm against her temple. The next twenty-four hours were going to be miserable.

_Knock, knock!_

Regina winced at the noise. She had been looking forward to a bath and early night. "No rest for the wicked," she muttered aloud. The knock came again, more insistent. The angry dwarf hammering inside her skull redoubled its efforts. Schooling her expression to hide her discomfort, Regina opened the door.

Graham's grizzly expression did nothing to improve her mood. "We need to talk." Not waiting for an invitation, he stepped past her.

"Please, come in," she scowled.

His gaze swept over the entryway before finally settling on her. "You've cleaned up the place."

Still holding the door open, Regina glared at the Huntsman. He had practically just admitted that it was him who had ransacked her home, and he didn't even have to decency to pretend to be sorry. Trying for civility, "What do you want, Graham?"

"Our tourist has woken up. Snow thought you should know."

Directness was a value that they had always shared with each other, especially as the Huntsman and Evil Queen. No matter that she had held his heart, he had found occasion almost daily to tell her exactly what he thought her. At one time, she had punished him for it. Now, it bothered Regina that he was choosing to beat about the bush when all she wanted to do was lay down until the next disaster struck. "You could have called," she said pointedly.

"There's something else." He planted his feet, rooting himself to her floor.

"Of course there is," she muttered. Masking her wince with a scowl, she closed the door and confronted the Huntsman with a pert look. When he didn't immediately accuse her of something, "I don't have all night."

He studied her a moment longer, taking in the strained creases that pulled the corners of her eyes and too straight posture. "Using dark magic again I see." Regina immediately shifted her stance. She silently cursed her past self for letting this man get close enough to be able to read her body language, even if he had been heartless at the time. "I was there when he woke up, our tourist. There was something wrong with his eyes. They're empty."

Regina raised her eyebrows. "That must be a real obstacle to driving. No wonder he hit me."

"Don't feign innocence with me," he interrupted. "Why did you take his heart?"

Many facts registered at once. No one else knew, otherwise there would be a mob on her doorstep instead of just Graham. This meant he hadn't told anyone, which meant that he wanted something. Something that he believed only the Evil Queen could deliver. Resigning herself to the conversation, Regina sighed. "To protect Henry." Choosing to ignore the silent query, she moved toward the kitchen.

Graham remembered the routine well enough from his cursed years. He fell into step behind her, waiting as she poured the cooled cider into a sauce pan and heated it up on the stove. It was just starting to boil when he ventured, "He was in the other Storybrooke."

Regina poured two mugs. She didn't expect Graham to drink it. He never had. But it seemed the correct gesture to make. Her own cup found a home pressed against her temple, which dulled the splitting sensation on one side of her skull. "When I cast the Dark Curse, the town landed on top of a father and son who were camping."

"I remember that," he nodded slowly, brow furrowed as he tried to recall the details.

"The boy's name was Owen, and he's all grown up now." She paused to switch temples, wincing as the migraine flared anew. "He has a vendetta against all magic and me in particular. Last time, he kidnapped Henry and took him through a portal across realms."

Much to her annoyance, his eyes lighted with dark humor. "You were outwitted by someone without magic? How embarrassing."

Regina chose to ignore the barb. "The point is that he's a threat, one that's now been removed. Not that you really care about that." He opened his mouth to defend himself but Regina cut him off with a blunt, "I'm tired Graham. What price do I have to pay for you to keep this little discovery to yourself?"

He didn't miss a beat. "Return me to the Enchanted Forest."

Regina would have laughed if her head didn't hurt so much. As it was, she settled on an uncompromising smirk. "No deal. Right now Storybrooke is mostly hidden amongst the realms. Opening a portal would be like advertising that we're open for business, and I'm not endangering my son over your crisis of conscious."

"Now, that's interesting considering what you did to the last little boy you tried to steal from his parent. Tell me, will you do the same to Henry when he chooses Emma over you as a mother? Take his heart and make him do your biding in the name of love?"

During a very dark time in the last Storybrooke, she had considered doing just that. Instead she had settled on casting a spell on her son that would make him believe that he loved her, an option that was just as dark but she had thought a viable alternative at the time. That was before Henry had been taken to Neverland. Before Regina truly understood that she would do and sacrifice anything for her son, including her vengeance. If she were newly arrived in this timeline, she could overlook the Huntsman's insult, but _she_ had been here undoing decades of misery for almost a year now. And, damn it, it bothered her that the only one in who didn't even pretend to acknowledge that anything had changed had been in a position to witness the most effects of her transformation. Regina deliberately set her cider down on the counter and pinned the Huntsman with a cold glare. "The fact that you're still talking means there's something else that you want," she ground out. "Get to it, Graham."

The Huntsman shifted, as if he hadn't fully realized this fact until she brought it up. Finally, "I want your word that you won't do anything to harm Snow White or her family."

She had half expected a request of this ilk. It was in keeping with the Huntsman's strange loyalty to her daughter-in-law. Still, she was surprised that he named Snow above Emma in his demands. Regina dismissed this though. What the Huntsman did with his personal affairs was none of her business as long as he stayed out of hers. "I promise," she bit out. "Now, leave."

He lingered a moment longer, searching for any trace of deception beneath her obvious ire. He didn't believe her. That was obvious enough, but he would keep his end of the bargain, or at least he would until he believed Regina hadn't kept hers. She found herself not caring what the Huntsman did or didn't say as long as she had a solid twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep. Magicking the door locked behind him, Regina wisped her way upstairs and was asleep before her head hit the comforter.

.

.

_Faceless phantoms clung to her, holding her in place as the floor became a twisted whirlpool of ink. The ink morphed into Pan's shadow and flew away. Instinctively, she knew that it was searching for Henry. Whatever strength the phantoms had melted away in the face of her raw magic, black wisps clearing to reveal new surroundings. She was back in her castle, but there was something wrong. There were no guards. No one to protect her son. She ran through the corridors trying to find Henry's room but the halls kept changing. Desperate, she flung open random doors, each an empty duplicate of Henry's bedroom. In each fake room, she would rip away the bed covers to find a pile of carefully arranged pillows._

_Finally, she saw the door that she knew concealed her son. She reached for the doorknob, but a hand grabbed her arm. Regina reacted by lighting the figure with a fireball only to see Marian catch fire. Horror filled her, but she was frozen as Marian disintegrated, her pure heart left shining atop a pile of ash._

"_Marian!" Robin's voice echoed a heartbeat before he appeared. He stared in open-mouthed disbelief, pain quickly transforming into anger as his gaze moved to his wife's murderer. "You killed my wife!" he bellowed. _

_The Huntsman materialized beside him. "Of course she did." _

_Both turned in unison, speaking in one voice, "She's the Evil Queen."_

Regina startled awake, blood rushing in her ears. For a moment, she thought she was back in the nightmare, the natural shadows taking on a sinister leer. Instinctively, she summoned a fireball. Then her vision flashed white as the migraine responded to her magic by returning full force. Falling back against the pillow, Regina let out a breath of relief despite the pain. _It was just a dream. _ When the hammering in her skull had dulled with re-acquaintance, she shifted far enough to fumble for the lamp on her bedside table. She winced against the sudden flood of light but left it on as she drifted off again, a silent sentry against the nightmares.


	9. S02 Family Ties

The Savior returned to Storybrooke, family in tow. From the sour looks Baelfire kept shooting Rumpelstiltskin and the Dark One's dourer than usual demeanor, she gathered the reunion hadn't gone well. As soon as Regina entered the Charmings' loft, Emma muttered some excuse and detached herself from the responsibility of holding the group together. "Did you know about Neal?"

Regina glanced at Henry's father, noting the same cheekbones and jawline as her son. Looking back to Emma, "Yes."

"A little warning would have been nice," she half accused, half complained. There was no real bite in the statement, which was a better reaction than Regina had planned for. Clearly Emma had already mulled over the possibility and come to terms with it on the way back.

"Would you have gone?" Regina raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Emma gave her a hard look. "No, I wouldn't. But you already knew that." She let out a frustrated breath. "So, how's this supposed to play out? Weekdays here and weekends with Neal? No kid should have to choose between parents."

Regina paused at the irony of that statement coming from Emma but didn't comment. "He won't have to choose," she asserted.

Emma frowned, gaze drawn back to the newest addition to her family. "He has a fiancé."

"I wouldn't worry about Tamara," Regina said, Emma barely reacting to her knowing the name without being told. A faint glint crept into her eyes, sparking with revenge denied from the other timeline, but Regina quickly clamped down on that impulse. No matter the motivation, crushing a heart came with a terrible price, one that she was no longer willing to pay for petty revenge. That was an act she was saving for someone else.

Rumple's gaze found to her, eyes narrowed in cold accusation. She could practically hear the words _You knew he would reject me. _ Regina didn't bat an eye. Frankly, she was surprised that Baelfire had agreed to come back at all without a hook buried in Rumple's chest. From her limited understanding of the original event, that was what had rallied the family together the first time around. It was interesting that Neal had returned to Storybrook anyway.

_Almost like he was meant to._

Regina shied away from the thought. Neal was here because Regina had pointed Rumple in the right direction, and he obviously still held a torch for Emma. His presence had nothing to do with fate or destiny. Their stories were not written. At least, they weren't anymore. Returning her attention to Emma, "He can't know about when I'm from."

The words seemed to jerk the Savior out of her own musings. "Of course not," she affirmed.

Regina measured the surety of that promise before giving a short nod. "Good." Moving towards the knot of awkward adults, Regina shifted the conversation to more neutral ground, "Where's Henry?"

"I asked David to take him out for a bit," Snow answered, "to give us time to get acquainted."

"Speaking of which, hi," Neal offered his hand and a lopsided smile, "I'm Neal Cassidy, Henry's father."

Regina smiled and shook his hand. "Regina Mills. I'm Henry's mother, and I don't remember you being there."

Neal's smile spread into a grin accompanied by a nervous laugh that quickly died when no one corrected her. "Mother?" He pointed to Emma as he spoke, "He called you mom."

Emma crossed her arms defensively. "I gave him up."

The reaction was instant, Neal taking several steps back only to reclaim his ground a second later. "You gave up our son? You didn't even tell me, I would have helped you! Do you know what that can do to a kid?"

"Yeah, I do," she shot back, "but I was in prison, Neal, and you didn't exactly leave a number to call, just a car and a baby." Hel turned away again, hands running briefly through his hair in frustration. Emma glared. "I gave Henry his best shot, and it wasn't with me."

The air was loaded between them, an entire conversation happening in the silence. Apparently not liking what he saw, Neal calmed a bit, visibly collecting himself. It was interesting. He used the same method to refocus that Rumple used, a method she'd rarely had occasion to witness. When he was done, his gaze turned to Regina. "Thank you for raising our son," he glanced at Emma, "and I'm sorry I wasn't there, but I'm here now and I want to be part of Henry's life. Now, if I also need to check with Mr. Mills—"

"There's no Mr. Mills," she cut him off. "What I need you to understand, Mr. Cassidy, is that your two minute contribution to Henry's life does not make you a father. As far as I'm concerned you're a ship Miss Swan passed in the night some time ago, and you have no rights to my son."

Neal sobered. He earned full points for observation. He hadn't missed that neither Emma nor Henry's grandparents objected to Regina's unspoken claim as the parental authority in Henry's life. It felt strange to not immediately be challenged by Emma on this front, but Regina suspected it was just because they were in agreement about being cautious in introducing another member into the ever-expanding family. All sincerity, "I didn't know Henry existed until a couple days ago. If I had, I would have been there."

The words sent another unpleasant realization through her. She should have seen it before, but she simply hadn't known Neal beyond that frantic search in Neverland and had barely interacted with him there. But she could see it now. The same stubborn look Henry made when he committed to something. It was mildly alarming seeing this innate link between her son and a near-stranger, but it confirmed his next words for her,

"I want to be part of Henry's life," he stated his case calmly yet firmly. "I know I'm late to all this, but a boy should have his father."

Behind him, Rumple wore the expressionless mask he always did when hiding emotional pain. Although Neal had not spoken to him, the message was clear: Baelfire would not abandon _his _son.

Regina believed the sincerity. She recognized the single-minded fervor that sparked when he talked about family. Still, she didn't immediately answer, weighing the future pros and cons of his involvement in Henry's life. As rocky as the transition might be, Regina agreed on the basic point that Henry needed a stable father figure.

Although the Huntsman had been dating Emma since the curse was broken, Henry didn't speak much about him. During the curse, Graham had been kind to Henry but firmly maintained his distance from filling the paternal gap in her son's life. Despite his returned heart, Henry's silence on the topic told Regina that nothing had changed in that area.

David was a good example for Henry to follow, and Henry had attached to him as if he was a second father, but David lacked the single-minded conviction of a parent to protect his offspring. It wasn't that David intentionally put others in harm's way, but his first priority had always been Snow. Even with the reintroduction of Emma into the Charmings' lives, his actions made it clear that he saw his daughter more as a capable adult than his child. It wasn't his fault, but he didn't have the parental instinct yet: the need to protect his young at any personal cost, including the loss of his wife. That may change in time – she had glimpsed the beginnings of it when Zelena had kidnapped baby Neal – but it would never be the same because Henry wasn't his.

Then there was the matter of the handless wonder. The Captain had yet to make an appearance, an event Regina hoped would be indefinitely postponed, but if he did it would be good to already have an established father figure in Henry's life. In the other Storybrooke, Regina had never approved of the pirate or her son's attachment to him as a pseudo male role model, but she had hardly been in a position then to make any decisions about Henry's life. Hook had proven himself useful in Neverland, but he had also made clear that his motivations were solely to win Emma. While such dedication was admirable, Regina didn't trust him to put Henry first. Then again, with Emma having never gone to the Enchanted Forest in this timeline it was likely the pirate would stay true to his original colors and turn them over to her mother or whoever else he happened to ally himself with in his ever present quest to kill Rumpelstiltskin. Either way, Regina could use another pair of eyes in Storybrooke to make sure nothing happened to Henry.

She held Neal's stare, her assessment coming to a close. Untested though it was, Regina already knew from the other timeline that Neal possessed a fierce loyalty to his family. That coupled with his campaign to not be anything like the Dark One made Regina think he would become a good father to Henry, if he lived long enough. "If Henry wants to see you while you're here, then I'll permit it," she took a calculated pause, gaze sharpening to flint, "but if you hurt him for any reason, there is no realm far enough away that I will not find you."

To his credit, he didn't flinch at the threat. She expected no less. "I wasn't planning on leaving," he stated firmly.

Regina noted the start that gave Emma but kept her focus on Baelfire. The Savior's personal crisis was her own, and Emma would sort it out eventually. Finally, Regina nodded, her expression softening into guarded neutrality. Neal nodded back, his own features reclaiming a bit of their casual ease.

"Just curious, but who were you in the Enchanted Forest?"

The question surprised her, but she didn't shy away from it. "The Evil Queen."

His expression froze, eyes shifting slowly from Emma to Snow White and back to her. "As in hearts in boxes and poison apples?"

Regina wasn't certain if Neal had already been told or if it was a reference to Henry's book. "Yes."

He looked at the collected group as a whole, putting together the convoluted family web and coming to a conclusion about the role he needed to play. Running a hand through his hair, he offered an ironic smile, "I bet Disney never saw this one coming."

.

.

He was exactly where she remembered him sitting in the other Storybrooke, a local map spread across the table with circled bits and a notebook flipped open to birdwatching recommendations for anyone who cared to look. Regina wasn't fooled by the front. Despite the spell he was under, Owen had fallen back on old habits which apparently meant scouring the area for signs of magic. He glanced up as the front door to the diner opened, looked right through her, and went back to his map. Secure in the knowledge that he wouldn't be causing trouble, Regina slipped into her regular booth.

Red was unusually punctual today. Regina had barely sat down when she was there with a fresh muffin and apple cider. "On the house," she said.

Regina didn't immediately respond. Her first instinct was to distrust the gift. Then Granny glanced her way and Regina settled. The last time she'd been here she'd been hit by a car immediately after, and the old matron hadn't exactly been the spirit of hospitality. This was a peace offering of sorts. Accepting the olive branch, Regina offered a small smile. "Thank you."

The waitress nodded in acknowledgement before leaving her to her cider.

She was early on purpose. Henry had been picked up by Neal before dawn for a few hours of father-son fishing. They would be meeting her soon for a family breakfast, along with Emma. It had been Henry's idea, of course, to have parent-child bonding time. Emma had tried to dissuade him, but Regina thought it was a good idea and had said so. Privately, she had made her case to the Savior, pointing out that Neal may be part of Henry's life from now on and all of his parents needed to be seen as at least getting along. Emma had given her an even look, perhaps guessing at what had happened in the other Storybrooke before biting out a terse, "Fine." After that, they had all decided on Granny's. It was neutral territory and public enough to force a level of civility that might not otherwise exist between the Savior and her once-lover behind closed doors.

In truth, she wanted nothing to do with this bonding experience, but Henry needed stability in his parents. Stability that had been lacking since he'd discovered that she was the Evil Queen and his hometown was full of cursed characters from his storybook. And so Regina sipped her cider and mentally prepared for this little get-together.

"Excuse me." Regina looked up at the interruption. Owen stood over her, expression apologetic and mildly confused. She was unpleasantly surprised that he was talking to her. He shouldn't be unless someone had specifically pointed her out to him. Behind the counter, Granny gave Owen's back a stern but approving glance before returning to her work. The source of the oddity found, Regina calmed a mite. "I'm sorry to come up like this, but I'm Greg, the one who was driving the car the day of the accident. I just wanted to make sure that you're okay and say that I'm so sorry. I don't really remember much about what happened."

Regina smiled at his enchanted ignorance. "No apology is necessary. I'm fine."

She expected that to be the end of it, but he stayed, shifting his weight in agitation. Regina forced herself to remain relaxed, stifling memories of observing that exact tic each and every time Owen had cranked up the dial in her Storybrooke. "Yeah, well, any accident you can walk away from is a good one, I suppose," he said. "Still, I wanted to apologize. The doctor said I have an amnesia of some sort, hopefully temporary. I don't even remember driving into town."

"Well, I'm sure your memory will come back," Regina started with just the right mix of kindness and awkwardness that a stranger would have about being told too much about someone else's personal problems, "and don't worry about the medical bills. I have insurance."

He looked mildly offended at the implication that he may only be apologizing to avoid legal responsibility for her hospital stay, but like all of his emotions the feeling held no real spark. "Well, I'm glad that you're alright," he repeated and sauntered purposefully back to his booth.

Behind the counter, Granny looked pleased with herself in her grim way. Regina went back to her cider and hoped that this would be the end of the old matron's well-meaning interference. She needed time to think.

The most immediate problem that she needed to solve was the impending visit from Tamara. Yesterday, Neal had announced she was coming into town in a few days and Regina still hadn't decided on the best tactic to deal with Owen's accomplice. Whether or not she would take Tamara's heart was not in question. Regina had Owen under control, but she didn't know the woman well enough to guess at personal motivations and wouldn't gamble Henry's safety on something as flimsy as emotional blackmail. The real question was what she would instruct Tamara to do once the organ was in her hand.

Crushing it was the most attractive option, but she was saving that for Tamara's employer, and it would raise too many questions besides. The safest way would be to erase Tamara's past self, rebuilding her memories so that the lie Neal believed was her only truth. Doing that though ran the risk of Tamara trying to leave town and dying once she crossed the town line. As appealing as that mental picture was, Regina was trying to avoid outright homicide. Then there was the possibility that Neal would realize something was wrong with her. Even if he didn't practice magic, he was the Dark One's son. There was more than a slim chance that he would recognize that Tamara was heartless, which again would lead to unpleasant questions.

The only viable plan that didn't necessarily involve lying to everyone would be to bring Neal into the secret that she was from the future. This held the potential for the least and the greatest risk. He was a child of the Enchanted Forest and would likely accept it. Still, he had died so his father could live in the other Storybrooke. While he seemed distant and generally distrustfully towards Rumple now, that may change and with that change secrets may be told. On the other hand, assuming that he took the news well and actively participated in misleading his fiancé, he may still tip Tamara off with how he acted. She simply didn't know him well enough to decide.

Regina still hadn't decided when the door chimed and Emma came in. The Savior's nervous glance at the clock confirmed that she was also here early to bolster herself for the family breakfast. She spotted Regina quickly enough and slid across the booth with a, "Hey."

Red was over almost immediately, a hot coco with whipped cream and cinnamon already prepared. It wasn't until then that it occurred to Regina that Granny's gesture of cider and a muffin had nothing to do with her accident. She glanced around the relatively quiet diner for confirmation before voicing her suspicions, "Red, how many people know we're meeting Neal and Henry here this morning?"

The girl had the decency not to feign ignorance, or maybe it never occurred to her to do so. "Pretty much everyone. Henry was in here talking about it yesterday after the mining shift, and Leroy made sure the word got out."

Regina frowned but said, "Thank you." Cider for her. Coco and cinnamon for the Savior. Probably the same for Henry, and who knew what for Neal. Leroy was noticeably absent despite it being his usual time for morning bacon, as were most of the louder Storybrooke residents. It was as if they were all trying to help things go smoothly. Regina held no illusions about this being for her. Even with over a year past since the curse was broken, people just couldn't resist coming up and taking a verbal stab at the Evil Queen while she and Emma were in the same room. They had given up trying to convince Henry that she was evil, partly because he was so vocal in her defense and partly because they believed that time would prove them right. Today though, the town seemed to be holding its breath, hoping that the daughter of their beloved monarchs would reunite with who they thought to be her happily-ever-after. Just as clearly, Regina saw in their expressions the end that they all hoped for: that Henry would choose his birth parents and Regina would just step aside and let it happen 'for Henry's sake.'

She flashed the entire room and dark glare. _Let them hope. I'm not going anywhere._

Across from her, Emma frowned, "You okay?"

Placing her cider on the table, she cast a scowl at Granny. "Just a bad taste in my mouth."

.

.

There was something grand about fire. It could always be relied upon to follow its nature. Hungry. Relentless. Unyielding. It was like him. Unlike fire, though, he could choose what path he burned through the world. A fire that could prevent its end. And prevent it he would.

He carefully rotated the knob that changed the pictures on the camera. 'Camera' seemed a strange name for such a small device, but he had long since accepted the strangeness of the realms beyond his own. Besides, he didn't care how the information came as long he found it. As long as he found _him_. This was just the most recent in another long string of reports from his agents in the other realms. Another new place. More faces to scrutinize. One picture at a time. He was just about to rotate to the next one when he spotted him. It was only a profile, but the resemblance was too strong to be a coincidence.

Firelight flickered, casting his features from shadow to the glow of youth. Pan smirked at the picture of his salvation. "Found you."


End file.
